8 Ways to Manage Your Hot Flashes and Night Sweats

Discover Ways to Stay Cool (Or Stop Sudden Chills), Including Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy in Miami, FL.

In early perimenopause, only 40 percent of women experience hot flashes. By menopause and into post-menopause, though, 75 percent or more of women may experience this unpleasant symptom.

Sometimes, a woman may also experience the complete opposite, cold flashes. If hot and/or cold flashes are interfering with your life, you may want to look into bioidentical hormone replacement therapy in Miami, FL, and at-home remedies to assist.

Make perimenopause and menopause easier by learning how to manage your symptoms.

A Little About Hot Flashes and Cold Flashes

Hot and cold flashes are bursts of feeling really overheated or cold. They tend to last from a few seconds to several minutes. Some women experience a few a week, while others have them numerous times per day. Often, a cold flash follows a hot flash. You may wake up drenched in sweat from a night sweat that ended with feeling chilled.

These come from hormonal changes, especially from your estrogen decreasing. Your body’s temperature-control center becomes more sensitive, so your body may warm up or cool down as a protection mechanism.

Ways to Manage These Symptoms

Your first instinct might be to put your head in a freezer and let the world pass you by until the hot flash ends. However, some other tips might work a bit better.

1. Dress in Layers

   Hot and cold flashes typically come on suddenly, sometimes without a known trigger. So you’re always ready for the temperature changes your body goes through, dress in layers. If it’s summertime, dress in light layers of loose, flowing clothing. During the winter, wear thick layers, but make sure you have a tank top underneath everything.

   As you experience hot and cold flashes, combat that by taking layers off or putting them back on.

2. Keep Blankets Nearby at Night

   Miami’s weather is pretty much hot year-round, usually in the 71 to 90-degree Fahrenheit range. Air conditioning is essentially a necessity, but when you’re experiencing cold flashes, it can exacerbate the issue.

   Ideally, you should choose a comfortable temperature at night, use either a sheet or a lightweight blanket, and be sure to have extra blankets nearby. You’ll be prepared for whatever comes your way throughout the night.

3. Sip Water Throughout the Day

   Staying well-hydrated is beneficial for various aspects of your health, from your kidneys to your heart to your brain. However, it also helps with temperature regulation and to replenish fluids lost from sweating. The hydration can assist with reducing the intensity of overheating. If you’re experiencing dizziness, fatigue, or headaches after an episode, the extra hydration can help prevent these symptoms.

   As a word of advice, sip water throughout the day, just don’t chug water randomly. When you consistently drink, your body maintains hydration.

4. See if Spicy Food Is a Trigger

   You might be a loyal patron of Bombay Darbar, choosing the spiciest dishes on the menu to satisfy that hankering for something with a kick. However, nowadays that you’re experiencing hot flashes, these foods may trigger them or worsen the ones you’re having.

   These foods contain capsaicin, which is the oil that makes them spicy. Once it activates the heat receptors in your mouth and body, it can cause symptoms like flushing and increased sweating.

   Hot dishes may raise perceived body heat and will activate your sweat response. If these affect hot flashes, you’ll notice a difference shortly after eating them. For some people, these foods will cause night sweats later that day.

5. See if Hot Showers Are a Trigger

   If you’re the type of person who can’t help but crank up the heat in the shower and let your cares melt away for the day, you may have to turn the temperature down a few notches if you want to prevent hot flashes or reduce the severity of them.

   Although a hot shower doesn’t directly cause hot flashes, it may trigger them in some women as your core and skin temperature rise. Normally, your body can handle these changes, but whenever your temperature control center (hypothalamus) is sensitive to estrogen fluctuations, it may be more reactive to the heat.

6. Give Up Smoking and Limit Drinking

   Both smoking and drinking alcohol affect the blood vessels, possibly leading to skin flushing and heat surges. These habits can also influence your estrogen levels. Smoking increases stress on your nervous system, while alcohol raises your core body temperature.

   For all of these reasons, these two habits can impact hot flashes. Ideally, you should quit smoking and limit drinking while you’re going through perimenopause.

7. Eat Balanced Meals

   Your sugar rises when you eat simple carbs, and then it drops rapidly. During perimenopause, you may be more sensitive to these changes because your estrogen is low or fluctuating.

   When you have “sugar crashes,” your body releases stress hormones that can cause flushing and sweating. Blood sugar fluctuations can also raise body temperature and promote sweating by activating your fight-or-flight response.

   Eat balanced meals consisting of vegetables, fruits, whole-grains, and protein to maintain normal blood sugar levels throughout the day. You’ll reduce the number of sugar crashes you experience, which can decrease the amount and severity of hot flashes you have.

8. Consider Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy in Miami, FL

   If you can’t seem to cool off from hot flashes or warm up during a cool flash, despite trying these tips for managing them, you may want to consider bioidentical hormone therapy in Miami. You’ll receive estrogen and progesterone, if you still have your uterus, to balance your hormones. Then, you won’t have to suffer with the symptoms that are bothering you; they’ll then be less intense and/or frequent.

Contact Hydrology Today to Book an Appointment

Maybe you’ve tried everything you can think of and the eight tips mentioned above without luck. It might be time to look into hormone replacement therapy. This treatment can ease hot and cold flashes while also reducing other symptoms of perimenopause and menopause.

Besides this therapy, we also offer treatments that can help manage your other symptoms if you don’t really want hormone therapy or still need relief. Prime example: we also offer acne facials to address hormone-related breakouts.

Before you schedule a visit, take a look at our reviews and see why you should choose us.

Contact us at (305) 859-3999 for an appointment to ease your symptoms today and feel better overall. We’re close to Jaycee Park.