During their menopausal phase, several women experience hot flashes or night sweats or both together. These symptoms may occur sporadically or be very recurrent and may even differ in extremeness from being gently irritating or distressing to being extremely traumatic or to the extent of stifling. In fact, night sweats may sometimes be so intense that they may even drench your nightclothes. On the other hand, hot flashes cannot be predicted at all; they cause a sensation similar to a wave of heat gushing through the body, generally upwards in the direction of the face. Hot flashes have a tendency to have an affect mainly on the upper part of the body. In effect, hot flashes commence with prickling and occur together with sweating and redness. Following the hot flash, which may endure for anything from a small number of seconds to a couple of minutes, women generally have a chilly sensation. A woman who experiences night sweats very often at night time usually does not have proper sleep. In case you are enduring hot flashes very frequently, you should make an effort to be dressed in layers of clothes, to enable you to do away with a jacket or sweater when you would feel hot and wear another if you are feeling cold. In addition, you may also carry a hand fan with you to cool yourself stylishly whenever you experience a hot flash or always keep a desk fan at the place of your work. While it is vital to maintain your estrogen levels to ensure that you do not become underweight, you should always bear in mind that body fats work in the form of an insulator and excessive of body fat will inhibit the cooling systems of the body. Hot flashes may be classified into three different groups - gentle, moderate, or acute. Mild hot flashes continue for not more than a minute and generate a sensation of warmth accompanied by modest or no sweating. When a woman endures a moderate hot flash, she has noticeable sweating and it continues for about two to three minutes. Acute flashes result in copious sweating, produce extreme heat and continue for a longer period of time. Severe hot flashes also hinder the person's ongoing activities. Whenever it is possible, women experiencing hot flashes and night sweats should wearing clothes made of natural fibres, since wearing clothes made from synthetic materials do now permit the skin to breathe and deteriorates the sweating. When in bed, such women should wear any absorbent material, such as cotton, next to the skin and ensure that their bedding is also made from cotton. It is important to note that whenever they would have a feeling of a flush about to happen, they should try and not combat it by turning tense. Instead, they ought to relax into it because this way it may possibly alleviate the symptoms more rapidly. Several women find that anxiety and stress attributable to fright regarding any deadline or rush about, may in fact lead to flashes. At the same time, it is important to keep away from stress, unexpected alterations in temperature as well as hot, jam-packed atmospheres. It is also important to stay away from drinking excessive hot drinks as well as fatty or spicy foods, since they have the potential to augment the penchant to swelter. Similarly, you need to lessen smoking, consumption of alcohol and caffeine, because all these substances only contribute to disturb the hormone balance. It has been found that several women have a better feeling and experience lesser incidents of hot flashes provided the lower consumption of meat as well as dairy products. It is possible that the hormones present in these foods will result in disturbing the hormone balance in women.
Specific herbs and supplements are effective in alleviating the symptoms of hot flashes and night sweats. For instance, you should ensure that you are taking lots of liquid and also include high amount of vitamin E and the trace mineral selenium in your diet. It may be noted that these two nutrients work excellently in conjugation in regulating abnormal rise in body temperature that results in hot flashes. It is advisable that you start with a daily intake of 400 IU of vitamin E and increase the amount by another 200 IU after a week and finally take an utmost of 1200 IU of vitamin E daily. When the hot flashes disappear, you need to lower the dosage of vitamin E slowly. Here is a word of caution: women enduring high blood pressure, any heart ailment or diabetes should keep away from taking vitamin E. In case it is absolutely essential to take this nutrient, you should only take it following consultations with and approval of your physician. In addition, women experiencing hot flashes and night sweats ought to consume lots of foods that enclose vitamin C as well as bioflavonoids. Alternately, they may also take a supplement of these together in dosage of 1 gram to 3 grams every day, since they help to fortify the walls of the capillaries and also avoid the dilation of the blood vessels which leads to hot flashes. Apart from vitamin C and bioflavonoids, taking supplements of calcium, B complex and the essential oil of evening primrose is also effective in neutralizing the consequences of trauma on hormone balance of menopausal women. TEA FOR HOT FLASHES A tea prepared from a number of herbs is useful in easing the symptoms of hot flashes. The herbs required to prepare this tea include:
Aromatherapy is an excellent way to ease hot flashes and night sweats. In fact, you may inhale the essential oils of thyme and basil or use them in a bath or in the form of a foot rub or massage oil to alleviate hot flashes. If you wish to have a transportable hot flash therapy, put a small number of drops on any essential oil or cologne on a tissue paper or cotton ball and keep it in a plastic cover. This may well relieve the symptoms instantaneously whenever you open and breathe in the aroma whenever a hot flash strikes.
You may also try specific homeopathic remedies to alleviate night sweats. For instance, take Nux vomica at any time when you are woken up and have a cooled and tetchy feeling.
Besides using prescription drugs, herbs and supplements, homeopathic remedies and aromatherapy, you may do a few additional things to ease the symptoms of hot flashes and night sweats. For instance, drink many cups of sage tea every day. To prepare this herbal tea, add one tablespoonful of sage for every cup (250 ml) of water and permeate the mixture for about 20 minutes. It has also been noticed that problems of several women are eased when they use external natural progesterone creams that are available over the counter. This is basically a transdermal lotion and is soaked up by means of the skin and transported straight to when it is required. This natural progesterone cream is known to be non-toxic and does not produce the adverse side effects that are caused by using synthetic progestins. It may, however, be noted that a number of women may also have problems using natural progesterone, which may result in anxiety, tetchiness and several other complications. On the contrary, it has been found that natural progesterone is beneficial for most women experiencing hot flashes and night sweats. In addition, acupuncture, biofeedback and meditation have also assisted several women to get relief from hot flashes. In addition, exercise is also effective in lessening hot flashes by means of reducing the amount of FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) and LH (luteinizing hormone) in circulation as well as by augmenting the levels of endorphine, which actually decline when a woman experiences hot flashes. If you work out for a minimum period of 20 minutes thrice every week, you will notice a considerable reduction in occurrences of hot flashes. Gradual abdominal respirations, about six to eight breaths every minute, may result in approximately 40 per cent decline in the incidences of hot flashes. Women employ this technique for 15 minutes two times every day and when they experience a hot flash about to strike. Before concluding, it is pertinent to mention that you should always use cotton sheets as well as natural fibers all the time, as this helps in easing night sweats.
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