What are Night Sweats ?
Hot flashes: Not just for daytime! One of the least fun parts of the journey to menopause has got to be hot flashes. They come out of nowhere, they’re intense, and occasionally, they make for some awkward moments. When they happen at night, they’re called night sweats, and they’re equally as un-fun.
Why it happens ?
One of estrogen’s jobs is to help regulate your internal thermometer. During perimenopause and menopause, your estrogen levels fluctuate wildly, and so your “thermoneutral zone” (read: the temperature range your body is comfortable in) narrows. This means that the slightest temperature change can prompt a major overreaction from your body, leading to hot flashes and night sweats.
What can you do ?
There are lots of people with lots of remedies and anecdotes about what helped them. Here are the things we hear a lot:
- Deep breathing
- Changes in diet
- Dressing in layers that are easy to remove.
- Meditation
- Carrying a fan
- Cutting back on caffeine and/or alcohol
