What is Causing My Hot Flashes and Night Sweats?
I don't know what your experience with hot flashes has been like, but mine were debilitating. My hot flashes happened all day long: while I was teaching, during my commute home from work, while cooking dinner, during my workout, while trying to have a conversation with my husband, and my personal favorite– in the middle of the night. This last one is technically called night sweats and culminates in soaked pajamas, sweat-drenched hair and skin, and an inability to relax back into dreamland.
What is happening in my body during hot flashes?
In a nutshell, hormones regulate so many things in our body, and one of those things is regulating temperature. If our hormone balance is off or fluctuating, our body's ability to regulate and stay cool goes right out the window. During menopause, estrogen levels may drop, which affects the hypothalamus. This is the part of the brain responsible for body temperature. The body mistakenly thinks it's going to overheat, so it immediately turns on the heat loss mechanisms like vasodilation and sweating. You might feel flushed and then a tingling sensation throughout your body, along with profuse sweating during the hot flashes. These can last a few seconds to several minutes.
What can I do to stop my hot flashes (or at least make myself more comfortable)?
When I experienced hot flashes, it was terribly uncomfortable. If I was at home, I would place ice packs all over my body and lie on the couch like a slug. I usually took a few ice packs to bed with me every night. To be honest, they didn't help. Just a few seconds after applying the cold packs, my body heat would melt the ice and render them useless. Then I was a hot mess with damp hair and clothing from the melted ice. It was pitiful. How can I be my husband’s hot girlfriend looking like that?! If I was in public or at my job, I would lean over my fan and just sit there, helpless. It was incredibly embarrassing. At one point, I stopped wearing makeup, because I would just sweat it all off and it looked terrible. Also, I had to plan my wardrobe very carefully, because I was definitely going to sweat through my clothes. No more cute, feminine outfits for me! I looked old, frumpy, and out of my element– all day, every day.
While fans and ice packs can give temporary relief from hot flashes, I still felt like my body was being held hostage by some pretty sick torturers. I was reluctant to use HRT or other prescriptions, so I thought I was going to have to suffer every day and every night. I started to notice a few patterns when I had the hot flashes, namely, my hot flashes usually started after I ate. It was like eating triggered the hot flashes. So I stopped eating! LOL! Just kidding, kind of. I began planning my eating times for after work and well before bedtime. Then I started doing a 20:4 intermittent fasting routine on most days. At least I would have less hot flashes during my workday– or so I thought…
After intermittent fasting, my hot flashes disappeared!
I was shocked to discover that my intermittent fasting routine caused my hot flashes to disappear. Not just when I was fasting, but all day and all night! No more night sweats, and I was finally able to sleeeeeeep!! Yippee! I wasn't expecting that at all, but now I'm a total believer. It's been over two years since I started intermittent fasting, and my hot flashes have not come back, even when I have my snack or eat dinner in the evenings.
Dear Reader, if you are frustrated with hot flashes and night sweats, why don't you try intermittent fasting? What do you have to lose? Intermittent fasting requires no fancy foods, costly diet plan, expensive trainer, counting points, or time spent cooking a special meal. When I first started intermittent fasting, I ate whatever I wanted during the four-hour window. It doesn't have to be complicated. If you decide to try intermittent fasting and kick your hot flashes to the curb, won't you let us know how it went for you? I'd love to hear about your menopause health journey!
Sincerely,
Jennifer Kaye