[H1656]How To Stop Hot Flashes

One of the more debilitating symptoms of hot flashes is their impact on our ability to get a good nights sleep. A deep and uninterrupted night's sleep is too long overdue for many postmenopausal women. Many women say they just lie awake, unable to go to sleep or stay asleep, and worrying about being alert for the day ahead.

My grandma was the first person I can remember who used to suffer with insomnia brought on by her hot flashes - she'd explain all the details to us, describing herself as having "eyes like saucers" - which I now understand meant she was wide awake.

It seems that hot flashes, and insomnia in particular have plagued us for a very long time - as even the great Shakespeare wrote about it in Macbeth when he employs a physician to deal with his wife's insomnia: " Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Race out the written troubles of the brain; And with-some sweet oblivious antidote cleanse the stuft bosom of that perilous stuff which weighs upon the heart." Well, at least that's what it sounds like to me.

How HRT Has Impacted Insomnia

So we know insomnia and hot flashes have been with is for centuries, but it seems to have escalated dramatically just recently during the last few years. Many people believe it to be related to the HRT scare that was publicized a few years back - where the clinical trials suggested that the risks of using hormone replacement therapy greatly outnumbered the benefits.

Many women are now being plagued again with menopause symptoms and problems they thought they had left behind. But there are still a lot of options that can provide effective solutions to these issues.

Although it's fairly common, particularly for menopausal and post-menopausal women, insomnia and sleeplessness isn't a "one size fits all" problem, but with a few simple approaches, it's fairly straightforward to determine which treatment would be best for you.

The first approach should be to consult with your health care practitioner or doctor and review your medical history. This can help narrow down your options and make your decision easier. For some women, some form of hormone replacement therapy may still be the best short term answer.

How Aging and Insomnia Interact

As we enter our early fifties, we all start to experience disruptions to our normal sleep patterns. Depending on which of the 5stages of sleep is impacted determines how serious it is. The first two stages, transitional sleep and light sleep are known as Non Rapid Eye Movement stages or NREM.

Stages three and four are known as deep or Delta sleep, and these are the most restful - these are the stages we need to get to quickly and remain in longest. Stage five is known as REM or Rapid Eye Movement. This is when we dream and take up about 20 percent of our sleep time.

As we get older, typically into our fifties, we tend to spend more of our sleep time in stages one and two, with the obvious consequences - sleeping lighter and more prone to be woken up. So we get tired earlier in the day, and tend to wake earlier in the morning. But there are always options open to us to enhance our sleep time, not matter how bad it has got.

First, you need to define your sleep pattern and problem. While one woman might have difficulty falling asleep, another might have trouble staying asleep. One woman might be awakened because of hot flashes, but someone else might wake up and then experience a hot flash. Other women might find themselves waking earlier and earlier.

Natural Remedies and Cures For Hot Flashes

Some herbal products might be beneficial. Some specific herbal menopause remedies could be the answer, or over-the-counter sleep aids might help for awhile, but don't rely on the sleep aids too much - it's never that simple. It's better to create a new sleep pattern, a new routine that signals the body that it's time to sleep.

Stopping Hot Flashes From Disrupting Your Sleep

When hot flashes start to disrupt your sleep, the first thing you need to do is stop worrying about it, and look to what is causing them - find the triggers. Some women find that when they dream, that triggers a hot flash. By finding out what is triggering them, you are now in a much better position to deal with them - rather than taking sleeping medications to make you sleep through it.

You have to find out what your body needs and work with it to get back into your normal routine.

Sometimes all it takes is changing your routine or diet. Spending a half hour in a darkened, cool room increases sleep hormones like melatonin in the body. Avoid stimulating activities before you go to bed. That hot shower at night can trigger hot flashes. Exercising late in the day might spike adrenaline, making sleep difficult.

Diet is also very important - what we eat has a huge impact on how our body works. Some speciality teas for example can induce hot flashes, so choose carefully and do a bit of research. Believe it or not, carbohydrates also increase your sleep hormones, so if you're on a low carb diet you may want to make a few exceptions in the evening. And warm milk can be a great help to induce sleep, but I'd recommend a non-dairy alternative like soy milk.