- Seven Tips For Coping With Hot Flashes
- by Alicia Simpson
What do you do when you suffer
hot flashes? Ask most women and they will agree that the most
common and irritable symptom of menopause are hot flashes. Some
women refer to it as a “flash” because women report
a flushed feeling about the face and neck. Those feeling usually
came together with sweats.
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Current theory proposes that
certain brain chemicals called catecholamines and opiates may
mediate hot flashes. It's now believed that the hypothalamus,
one of the glands affected by estradiol withdrawal, somehow releases
a trigger substance that results in thermoregulatory instability.
The body’s signals get mixed, triggering a warming and sweating
sequence, in an effort to stabilize what it perceives as a change
in body temperature.
To help you with that situation,
here are 7 tips to cope with hot flashes which you might need.
1. Dress in layered clothing, preferably cotton,
since natural fibers allow your skin to breathe. Then when you
feel a flash coming on, you can simply shed layers to cool off.
Since some flashes are followed by chills, it can be helpful
to have a sweater to put back on. |
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2.
Limit or eliminate all together substances that may act as triggers:
caffeine; alcohol; hot, spicy foods; diet pills; hot tubs; stress.
3. Drink plenty of water. Keeping well hydrated
can help modulate your body temperature.
4. Keep a supply of ice water nearby - even at night
beside your bed.
5. Use lighter blankets or a fan near your bed to
deal with hot flashes at night.
6. Limit your intake of red wine, chocolate, and
aged cheeses, which contain a chemical that can affect your body's
thermostat and trigger a hot flash.
7. Make use of other coping behaviors. Psychological
or behavioral coping techniques are getting more attention from
the scientific community. For example, a small study conducted
by a professor of psychiatry, Robert R. Freedman, Ph.D., at the
Lafayette Clinic and Wayne State University School of Medicine
in Detroit found that regular, practiced breathing reduced hot
flashes by 50 percent in the study’s 33 participants.
Other self-help behavioral methods
include practicing self-acceptance (remind yourself, out loud
if necessary, that this is a temporary symptom of menopause and
perfectly normal), tracking the emotions and situations that
precede a flash (thus putting some degree of self-control back
into the equation), and trying to keep a sense of humor (share
funny moments with friends who are also going through the transition). |
