Menopause And Hot Flashes

While every woman experiences menopause in the natural cycle of life, more than seventy five percent of women experience hot flashes as a part of their menopause cycle. Hot flashes are most typically reported as a hot flushing feeling throughout the body. A hot flash can make a woman who is standing outdoors in sixty degree weather feel as if she is experiencing eighty degree weather. Even if everyone else in your household is cold, you may feel like you have to open all of the windows or turn the air conditioner on. At the very next moment, though, you may be shivering or cold, just as occurs when you have a fever.

Not only do hot flashes affect women with menopause, they affect the people around them as well. For example, many men report their spouses are so warm next to them in bed that they do not require as many blankets. Sometimes hot flashes can be more than just an overwhelming feeling of heat. For many women they include dizziness. For others, heart palpitations occur with hot flashes. Still others have the sensation that their skin is crawling, while some women feel faint when a hot flash occurs. Not all women have additional symptoms though. Some women simply feel hot for a few moments, and then it goes away. Afterward, they feel just fine. Others, though, find hot flashes to be both devastating and embarrassing, as some flashes can last more than ten minutes. 

Hot flashes are caused by motor instability in the body. Most researches agree that the body's temperature is controlled by the hypothalamus, a part of the brain. During menopause, the hypothalamus is experiencing serious hormone fluctuations. As a result, the body cannot respond the way it typically does. Although these hormone fluctuations are the major cause of hot flashes, other lifestyle factors like poor diet and stress can make them worse. Moreover, in areas where there are more pollutants in the air, usually xeno-estrogens or synthetic estrogen substances, women tend to have more hot flashes. Some researchers have concluded that women in industrialized countries experience three times the number of hot flashes than those who live in third world countries do.

There are also other external causes for hot flashes. In some women, certain foods and beverages cause hot flashes. Alcohol, caffeine in any dose, and spicy foods can do it for most women. For others though, serious exercise can cause a hot flash. Warm weather seems to be linked to increased hot flashes for some women, but for others, it simply occurs without warning.

Most women who experience hot flashes do so for around five years. However, some women experience hot flashes for ten to twenty years, though their intensity lessens over time. Only three percent of women have hot flashes for more than fifteen years. Hot flashes can be predicted by heredity, and they seem to be far worse in women who do not sweat, who have little body fat, or those who do not experience natural menopause.  If they are too severe or occur too often, you need to look into control methods with your doctor. 

 


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