Every day I get emails from women who are thinking about joining me on the MyMTâą programmes, because they feel overwhelmed with night sweats and hot flushes.
Hot flashes are a common symptom of menopause. Yet many postmenopausal women experience them too. Understandably, they have a huge impact on their quality of life, so finding an effective treatment option is paramount for them.Â
I am surprised by how many are on menopause supplements, hormone replacement therapy and/or anti-anxiety medications âŠ. the same interventions that are supposed to help them reduce their hot flushes, night sweats and anxiety.
Clearly, these interventions are not working for them. It’s so perplexing, but as I had this experience too, I now better understand why. It’s tough when all you do every morning is to strip the sheets off the bed, because they are soaked in sweat.
 So, I have a question for you:
Did you know that when you are experiencing hot flushes/ flashes and/or night sweats, this is a sign that your body is under dis-stress and trying to cool down?
What causes hot flashes in postmenopausal women?
Unravelling the physiology of hot flushes, begins with understanding temperature regulation. This is under the control of our hormonal system. So, as our estrogen levels decline during our menopause transition and into post-menopause, temperature-regulating hormones in the pituitary region of the brain and our thyroid are affected as well.
As I mention in my online Masterclass on Menopause – your reproductive hormones are not the ‘problem’ – menopause is a natural biological event.Â
The ‘problem’ with our worsening symptoms as we move into post-menopause, is that many women are not adjusting their lifestyle to accommodate changing hormone levels with age.
Hot flash solutions – What are my options?
Numerous studies report that if midlife women aren’t changing their lifestyle to accommodate the momentum of hormonal changes from peri-menopause to post-menopause, symptoms might continue, even into the post-menopause years when periods have ceased for a year or more.
This is because declining estrogen levels effect our blood vessels, muscles, joints, thyroid, pituitary gland, liver and gut too.Â
Hormones all work together to keep our body functioning.
Hormones are chemical messengers which control all sorts of functions in the body, from heat management, to blood pressure control, to blood sugar regulation to our sleep cycles and feelings of hunger. When menopause arrives, all of these hormones are affected. This includes our thyroid hormones which help to regulate temperature and metabolism.Â
How To Reduce Hot Flashes Post Menopause
To help you manage hot flashes during and after menopause, no matter the temperature outside, Iâve compiled these helpful tips. Click through on each of my âtop-8′ factors that influence the frequency and severity of your hot flushes after menopause and during menopause.
Have you experienced a hot flush after eating? Itâs not just about reducing sugar and processed food as we age. In menopause, my emphasis is on managing protein intake as well – not too much and not too little. The amount and timing of your protein intake is crucial. Protein is âthermo-genicâ which means âheat-generatingâ.
When I was trying to understand why my hot flushes were so bad, I remembered from my exercise science lecturing days, that high protein diets cause too much stress on the thyroid, liver, kidneys and gut, especially as we get older. The result? Lots of sweating as your body tries to cool down. That’s why in the MyMTâą Food Guide, which is in both of my different 12 week programmes, I teach you about cooling foods to eat in menopause.
We hear so much about ‘stress’ these days, but when it comes to your hot flushes and night sweats, I’m not just talking about emotional stress. I’m talking about the physical stress on your cells and tissues as you biologically age.
For decades, our cells and tissues have been accumulating inflammatory changes, especially if you have been doing a lot of high intensity exercise or you haven’t been sleeping throughout your menopause transition.
When you reach menopause and your blood vessels become more constricted with the loss of oestrogen and you arenât sleeping, your chronic stress hormone, called cortisol, remains higher than normal. When cortisol stays around all day, then your thyroid hormones overwork too. An unhappy thyroid combined with menopause hormonal changes causes your temperature and blood pressure to increase, which then has you wiping your brow with excess sweat as your body tries to get rid of the heat.
Moderation is everything and during menopause, both too much and too little exercise can cause more hot flushes. If you are doing heavy, high-intensity exercise most days or you work in a physically-demanding job such as nursing or farming, then your body doesnât recover and heal overnight when you don’t sleep.
This means that your blood pressure and temperature stay higher overnight. With a higher temperature, your body tries to cool you down. So you sweat more.
The same can also be said of women who are mainly sedentary. If you arenât doing some activity, then there is a risk that you arenât boosting your cells and tissues with oxygen. This can lead to poor cardiac health which in turn can contribute to worsening hot flushes.
Maintaining exercise is vital for reducing hot flashes after menopause, but it has to be the right type and amount of exercise and I have this information in my Rebuild My Fitness program for you.Â
When our heart rate and blood pressure is higher than normal, this increases heat production in the body. As we transition through menopause and we are ageing, our blood vessels lose their elasticity and become ‘stiffer’. Not only are they ageing, but we are losing muscle density as well. What this means is that our muscles (and our sweat glands) change when we lose oestrogen, so our ability to regulate heat and sweating changes too. I talk more about this in my on-demand Masterclass on Menopause which you can read more about HERE.Â
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New genetic research shows that we all have DNA that are receptive to living in either hot or cooler climates. If we are out of sync with the genetically-set DNA, then in menopause, this can cause more discomfort and hot flushes.
I have menopausal women on my programme from Alice Springs in Australia â as one of the hottest places on the continent, I am so thankful that they have come on board. One of the problems with living in such a hot climate is that we tend to live inside in air-conditioning and this changes our Vitamin D absorption which can dive-down in menopause. Vitamin D is a hormone and because our skin is the largest organ in the body and has numerous oestrogen receptors in it, menopause affects our Vitamin D absorption too. When levels are low, then hot flushes become worse and so too, does calcium absorption and cardiac health. That’s why itâs important that women get their Vitamin D levels checked â even more so when itâs so hot outside as in parts of Australia, that itâs cooler to live inside.
I think many of you would have already discovered that itâs a catch-22 between not sleeping and night sweats â on one hand the night sweats wake you up, but on the other hand, when you canât stay asleep, your hot flushes, night sweats and feelings of anxiety become worse. Yes?
Well, there is a reason for this.
When we arenât sleeping, we arenât recovering and restoring our immune system overnight. We also arenât fat-burning or recovering from our day-to-day activities. What then happens, is that our adrenal glands make more cortisol.
To do this, they use our lovely calming progesterone, which is also why women in menopause experience more anxiety as well â and itâs also why, in both of the MyMT 12 week programmes, the first module you listen to, is how to sleep all night. Itâs that important.
Poor sleep can make hot flashes worse and makes it a lot more difficult to maintain a healthy weight.
These powerful nutrients are needed to restore hormonal health as you transition through menopause. For example, the beautiful trace mineral called iodine, is a vital component of hormones produced by the thyroid gland that are responsible for a number of important functions in your body. This includes metabolism, nerve and muscle function, regulation of body temperature and blood cell production. If you donât get enough iodine-rich foods, your hot flushes can become worse. This is why I have a nutritional programme in the MyMTâąÂ programmes, that is rich in iodine and all the other nutrients that we need during menopause and into the years beyond. My nutritional information comes out of womenâs healthy ageing research.
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Leaky gut affects the entire body and during menopause, the changes to our gut lining occur with the loss of oestrogen. Our gut lining thins and our ability to maintain a healthy gut microbiome becomes more challenging. Unfortunately this can make depression worse too. Whilst I do recommend seeing a suitable health practitioner in case you have certain medical concerns, so many women have developed leaky-gut (as I did too), that I have researched what to do to turn this around. If this is you, then the continual presence of inflammation in your gut and bowel increases heat in the body. When heat and inflammation remain high, then this leads to poor sleep which sets off night sweats. Turning around our gut health is important as a starting point for renewed health as we age. What to do is now in a stand-alone module called ‘Restore your Grateful Gut in Menopause‘ programme is now available as a stand-alone module for you. Learn more HERE.Â
When my own hot flushes were troubling me day and night, especially as I moved into post-menopause, I knew I had to get to the bottom of the science of them.
Today, hot flushes/flashes no longer control me or define me. This is the same for many of the women who are following the strategies I have researched and you can read their Success Stories here.
There are many menopausal symptoms, and hot flashes are just one of them. If you are not coping with your heat regulation, sleep, anxiety, depression, weight or joint problems as you move through menopause and beyond, then will you join me? No matter where you live in the world, I would love to support you to feel like your old-self again.
The menopause transition is a pivotal time for women, as itâs the gateway to our biological ageing. Menopause symptoms donât just impact our quality of life, they can impact our physical health.
To set ourselves up for healthy ageing and help reduce the likelihood of medical conditions that are common in postmenopausal women, itâs vital we take control and educate ourselves. Simple lifestyle changes can make a profound impact on managing our risk of heart disease, blood clots, and weight gain.Â
MyMTâą programs are normally available for NZ$399 each, but please do check out the MyMT website or subscribe to our newsletter to be alerted to any promotional offers.Â
It would be my privilege to support you to feel like your old self again. Â
Dr Wendy Sweet, PhD [MyMTâąÂ Founder & Coach/ Member: Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine]. Read my story HERE.Â
This price includes full access to whichever of the 12 week programmes you choose:
Don’t forget that I have your back every step of the way, so my private coaching is included in this amazing price as well. Please have a listen to the video below when you have time.Â
References:
- Andrikoula M, Hardiman P, Prelevic G. Menopausal hot flush: is it only a nuisance or also a marker of cardiovascular disease risk?. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2009;25(7):450-454. doi:10.1080/09513590902972067
- Arslanca T, Korkmaz H, Arslanca SB, Pehlivanoglu B, Celikel Ă. The Relationship between Vitamin D and Vasomotor Symptoms During the Postmenopausal Period. Clin Lab. 2020 Jul 1;66(7). doi: 10.7754/Clin.Lab.2019.191116.
- Ashok T, Palyam V, Azam AT, Odeyinka O, Alhashimi R, Thoota S, Sange I. Relationship Between Vitamin D and Thyroid: An Enigma. Cureus. 2022 Jan 10;14(1):e21069. doi: 10.7759/cureus.21069.
- Deeche, D. & Dorries, K. (2007). Understanding the pathophysiology of vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes and night sweats) that occur in perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause life stages. Arch. Womenâs Mental Health, 10: 247â257.
- Mayo Clinic. The science behind a hot flush. Mayo Clinic Online, PDF Handout
- Sharma, S. & Kavuru, M. (2010). Sleep and Metabolism: An Overview. International Journal of Endocrinology, Article ID 270832, 1-12.