Find relief from menopausal hot flashes with natural and medical treatments.
Hot Flashes Treatment for Women in Ohio
Hot flashes are arguably the most talked about and well-known symptom that comes with perimenopause and menopause. These sudden, and sometimes intense, sensations of warmth in the body (typically in the face, neck, and chest areas) can disrupt your everyday life. Learn more about hot flashes and night sweats, why they occur, and what natural and medical treatments are available for menopausal women.
Stop Hot Flashes Naturally with Holistic Care
Many women experiencing perimenopause or menopause can be heavily affected by hot flashes; there’s no warning for them, and they can also occur at the most inopportune times, such as an important work meeting or during a special event.
Hot flashes come with other symptoms as well, including flushed skin, shivering or chills, dizziness, sweating (oftentimes in the upper body area), rapid and/or irregular heart palpitations, and an increase in anxiety or stress.
Night sweats are hot flashes that occur in sleep, and both night sweats and hot flashes are considered vasomotor symptoms. Hot flashes can happen any time during the day and last a few minutes with each episode (frequency of hot flashes can vary for each woman). Night sweats can cause you to wake up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, and disturb your overall quality of sleep.
The intensity/severity and frequency of hot flashes and night sweats will vary greatly among women, and it can also depend on where she is in her personal menopausal transition; for example, perimenopausal women may not experience hot flashes often, but women in menopause can have them more frequently.
Hot flashes, night sweats, and other symptoms related to perimenopause and menopause can be managed and reduced significantly to help you feel at peace and balanced with your body and well-being once again. Learn more about how changing hormones and lifestyle & environmental factors can trigger hot flashes and how you can manage your symptoms with confidence.
What Triggers Hot Flashes During Menopause?
Decline in Estrogen and Progesterone Hormone Production
Although the exact science behind why hot flashes occur has not been fully pinpointed despite extensive research, it is known that the primary link to the body’s thermoregulatory system and the hypothalamus, which controls and regulates body temperature. When hormones fluctuate and hormone production declines, this can cause your body’s usual functions to go out of whack for a bit, leading to perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, brain fog, increased stress and anxiety, weight gain, and fatigue.
Estrogen, specifically estradiol, is the hormone that helps maintain balance in your body’s temperature by working with the hypothalamus. When estrogen decline occurs during perimenopause and menopause, the hypothalamus becomes more sensitive to changes in the body and the thermoneutral zone (the range of ambient temperatures that doesn’t require your body to warm up or cool down) gets slimmer, which can trigger hot flashes. Estrogen decline can also affect neurotransmitters like norepinephrine that contribute to body temperature regulation.
On the other hand, progesterone can also indirectly increase your chances of getting hot flashes. Progesterone decline can cause disturbances in your sleep and make stress levels rise, which can worsen vasomotor symptoms. This leads us to the other possible causes of hot flashes based on your environment and lifestyle:
Environmental and Lifestyle that Trigger Hot Flashes
Several major environmental and lifestyle factors can induce hot flashes and make vasomotor symptoms more frequent and severe. It’s important to understand that certain lifestyle habits and environmental elements can bring about hot flash episodes:
Lack of stress management
Being in a warm or hot environment
Wearing thicker clothing or clothing that lacks breathability
Activity levels and the type of activity you’re doing (e.g., intense exercises that your body is not accustomed to can alter your hormonal health and worsen symptoms)
What you’re eating (spicy foods, overeating sugary foods and simple carbs)
What you’re drinking (caffeine, alcohol, sugary beverages)
Bedtime routine and sleep quality
Smoking
Food, Hormones, Mind-Body Practices
Revamping your lifestyle habits and making changes to your environment are natural ways for you to reduce triggers for hot flashes.
Nutrition and Exercise
One of our most effective recommendations to our clients is to evaluate their diet, nutritional intake, and exercise habits. Consider what you’re consuming the most in your diet that’s not helping you feel your best. Foods like simple carbs, take-out/frozen meals, and sugar-laden snacks and beverages like caffeine, sodas, and alcohol can contribute to worsening symptoms. Focus on making small, meaningful changes to your diet, such as swapping for homemade meals with whole foods. High-protein and even whole plant foods diets are options for women experiencing perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms.
The quality and frequency of your exercise are also important factors to reflect on as well. If you are inactive, getting into gentle, daily exercise like walking for 30 minutes a day can positively impact your overall health and well-being in positive ways. If you are already active and have a set routine, see where your routine may not be serving you anymore and what you can include into your routine, such as strength training (which is excellent for midlife women and women over 40!). If you are currently testing out new exercise routines or modalities, make sure to listen to your body; when you have something you enjoy, include it into a regular exercise routine. Remember, consistency matters!
Mind-Body Practices for Stress Management
Stress is one of the biggest challenges for midlife women experiencing hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms. Stress is heavily connected to your hormones, and how your body responds to stress will let you know if there’s too much stress building up and it needs your intervention. The way to do that is to have regular, grounded mind-body practices to help you manage and diffuse stress. This can include journaling, meditating, going on a walk, spending time in nature, and doing breathwork.
Natural supplements can do wonders for your health and well-being during perimenopause and menopause and alleviate your symptoms significantly. Some popular natural herbs and supplements to help with hot flashes include black cohosh, Siberian rhubarb, pycnogenol, evening primrose, phytoestrogens, and red clover. Our curated list of premium supplements, approved and personally used by Dr. Bonza, can help you manage your symptoms and health as you transition into your midlife journey.
Discover the 3-step system to help women navigate these changes. This is a free-to-watch webinar that dives deep into perimenopause (menopause women are welcome, too!) and Bonza Health’s exclusive program, the Vitality Code, which covers the key aspects of menopause management.
Hormone Therapy for Hot Flashes
Another option for women to help reduce hot flashes is hormone therapy. Hormone therapy for women over 40 who are dealing with perimenopause or menopause symptoms like fatigue is an effective, alternative treatment for hot flashes and other symptoms. Dr. Sarah Bonza offers FDA-approved hormone therapy for women. She creates a personalized, whole-body plan to ensure that you have everything you need to begin your journey, including comprehensive preventative medicine evaluations, such as supplement recommendations and Functional Medicine Testing. Advanced screenings such as breast MRI and bone density testing can be arranged with Dr. Bonza as well.
Our Natural and Hormonal Relief Options
Personalized Plans for Lasting Results
At Bonza Health, we offer a range of resources and programs for women in perimenopause or menopause. We always recommend holistic approaches to managing your symptoms so that you’re caring for your entire being instead of only one aspect of your health.
Hot flashes and night sweats may be categorized as physical symptoms, but they can be shocking, debilitating, frustrating, and confusing for women to experience.
Combining both natural and medical symptom relief practices and solutions into your routine can help you feel like yourself again.
You can achieve your health and wellness goals with confidence and understanding, allowing you to lead into your midlife journey with more optimism and courage.
Book your consultation using the link in the following section, and we can work together to create a personalized plan to help you achieve optimal health and well-being—even when you have fluctuating hormones.
We hope you found the information shared on this page helpful to your journey to reclaiming your health and vitality!
Take the next step and work with Dr. Bonza and the Bonza Health Team to help you eliminate hot flashes.
FAQs
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Although we work with women everywhere in the U.S., our medical services are only for the states of Ohio and Michigan. If you are a resident in Ohio, please contact us if you have any questions.
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Yes, we do! We cover both perimenopause and menopause in our consultations, health and wellness programs, etc.
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Please note that perimenopause and menopause symptoms are very similar, but the experiences can be vastly different for each woman. You may have lighter symptoms during perimenopause, but the symptoms may be more intense during menopause.
Common symptoms for perimenopause include:
Irregular or missed periods
Weight gain/appetite changes
Brain fog/concentration challenges
Hot flashes/night sweats
Sleep difficulties
Breast tenderness
Intense PMS symptoms
Increased stress or anxiety
Risk of depression
Mood swings
Common symptoms for menopause include:No period for 12 months
Vaginal dryness, decreased libido, weakening pelvic floor
Muscle loss, weight gain, appetite and metabolic changes
Risk of bone loss, which can lead to osteoporosis
Brain fog, difficulty remembering or focusing
Thinning skin and dryness, hair thinning or hair loss, nail brittleness
Hot flashes/night sweats
Sleep disturbances
Losing fullness in breasts
Increased stress, anxiety, depression
Mood swings
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Yes, we do! We’re happy to provide more information on perimenopause and menopause. Here are some helpful links:
Bonza Health Shop
Dr. Bonza’s Health Essentials
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us!