The top complaint most women have about menopause hovers around the insufferable hot flashes. This experience could be explained as waves of heat that start in the chest and radiates to the neck and head. This results in the woman feeling sweaty, hot, flushed, irritable, and uncomfortable.
According to experts, about seventy-five percent of women experience these episodes. A single hot flash can last anywhere from thirty seconds to thirty minutes; however, two to three minutes is more common. Women usually experience them for three to five years.
As if hot flashes were not bad enough, they turn into an even more irritating beast in the dark of night. This beast comes in the form of night sweats, which wake women up at all hours of the night, leaving them soaked from head to toe. Night sweats associated with flashes disrupt sleep patterns; therefore, making them more difficult to deal with than daytime hot flashes. They can leave women exhausted, fatigued, and longing for one good night of sleep.
During perimenopause, women experience a drop in estrogen, thus leaving the door open for hot flashes and night sweats. Because of the lack of sufficient amounts of estrogen as well as other hormonal changes, the body’s ability to regulate heat is greatly diminished.
Remedies for hot flashes
If you drink a lot of alcoholic beverages then this might be a good time to stop. A glass of wine a day is OK, but binge drinking is definitely a big no. Along with many other health risks, alcohol consumption plays a big part in the onset of hot flashes. When alcohol is consumed, it causes the blood vessels to dilate. This allows a large amount of blood to rush to the surface of the skin, and produce a hot flash.
Another problematic beverage that many people drink to get through the day is coffee. Hot caffeinated beverages are another contributor to the problem. Drinking soda and hot tea is fine. However, according to experts, it is not the heat or the caffeine that causes trouble, but the combination of the two.
