Natural Relief for Hot Flashes

By Rachel Venokur-Clark, GreenOptions

Women experiencing menopause and peri-menopause often wonder if there is anything they can do alleviate their symptoms naturally. Hot flashes, headaches, mood swings, weight gain, fatigue, sleepless nights and decreased libido are some common symptoms that can be reduced by some simple diet and lifestyle changes. With all the debates on hormone replacement, isn’t it nice to know you have the power to change how you feel naturally.

Certain foods can actually cause night sweats and hot flashes. To see if you are eating your way to an internal heat wave, consider keeping a Hot Flash Journal. Try to identify and understand what your food triggers might be. Keep track of the time of day or night your flashes come along with a food journal for a few weeks. This will allow you to see if there are any patterns present and which foods may be the ones setting you off. Typically, foods like sugar, simple carbohydrates, alcohol, caffeine, and spicy foods are the culprits.

Reduce alcohol and caffeine: Both alcohol and caffeine can affect your hormone levels and exasperate your symptoms. Try transitioning to herbal teas and limiting your alcohol intake to 1 or 2 drinks 1 or 2 times a week. Sometimes just one glass of wine can teleport your body to the tropics.

Reduce sugar intake: Sugar can also affect your hormone levels, throwing your hormones out of balance and making your symptoms worse. Try switching over to natural sweeteners like Agave or maple syrup. You can even experiment with fruit and sweet vegetables to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Reduce processed white flours: Processed white flours and white grains, like white bread, pasta, baked goods and white rice react like sugar in your body, throwing your hormone levels out of balance. Stick with whole grains like quinoa, barley, millet, amaranth, brown rice and whole wheat to give you long lasting energy without the blood sugar spikes.

Increase Omega 3 Fatty Acids: Omega 3 fatty acids can help to relieve irritability, mood swings and hot flashes. They are also considered a source of healthy fats, which actually helps your body burn fat, possibly resulting in some weight loss. Flaxseeds, flax oil, walnuts, olive oil and cold-water fish like salmon are full of omega 3 fatty acids.

Lifestyle Suggestions:
Stress can be a major cause of hot flashes, irritability and night sweats. Finding your favorite method of relaxation and stress reduction is key.

Increase your exercise. Exercise is one of the best things you can do to calm your body and mind, reduce anxiety and to control your weight. Whether it be yoga, tai-chi, weight lifting or aerobics, be sure to give yourself ample time to cool down since exercising raises your bod’s core temperature.

Try to relax. Consider taking up meditation or a class in deep breathing to help you clear your mind, rebalance and refocus. Since your emotional state has just as much to do with your symptoms as anything physical, keep in mind that feeling stressed, anxious or angry may be adding fuel to your fire. If meditation is not for you, simply taking some time for yourself to read a book, take a bath, get a massage or even listen to music can have an affect on your mental state of mind.

Green Options Media is a network of environmentally-focused blogs providing users with the information needed to make sustainable choices. Written by experienced professionals, Green Options Media’s blogs engage visitors with authoritative content, compelling discussions, and actionable advice. We invite anyone with questions, or simply curiosity, to add their voices to the community, and share their approaches to achieving abundance.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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Jasmin D.

2:54AM PDT on Oct 1, 2010

We all know that a hot flash starts its attack on the body by generating intense heat, more commonly, in the upper part of the body. Mostly, this hot sensation of strong warm wave is witnessed by the eyes via skin redness (flushing) and sweat followed by a cold or moist feeling. For more read this http://atozmenopause.com/hot_flashes_treatment.html

Susan D.

2:41AM PDT on Jun 28, 2009

"Womenopause" makes more sense! I was one of the lucky ones, no symptoms at all. No hot flashes, no mood swings, no night sweats, nothing at all to indicate any "change." The first physical clue I was even approaching mid-life was I started skipping periods, didn't think pregnancy was the cause, and I noticed I was not buying pads very often! At fourteen years post-menopause, I still have not experienced any obvious symptoms or "changes" and consider myself blessed! Runs in the family, my Mom and sister had the same experience. Guess that shows how important it is to pick our relatives wisely!

Janet F.

8:14AM PDT on Jun 24, 2009

Night sweats, or hot flashes in the middle of the night while I was sleeping, were ruining my ability to work, think, and just have a decent life at all. On the recommendation of Dr. Christiane Northrup's book, I sent a saliva sample to the Great Smokeys Diagnostic Lab, a testing lab in North Carolina, and found out that I have an overabundance of estrogen and too low progesterone. The second two weeks of every menstrual cycle, I use a progesterone cream, and the night sweats are gone, as is PMS! My husband is much happier and I am,too, and it is helping to keep my bones from losing calcium, also. The lab is open to phone calls from women directly, so you don't have to see and pay a doctor to get a recommendation. Check it out on the web.

Pamela C.

12:33PM PDT on Jun 22, 2009

Hot flashes have given me an odd benefit. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and, for many years, had trouble with my temperature going up in the afternoon and evening. Aspirin and ibuprofen helped with the symptoms of the low fever, but did not lower my temperature. Enter middle age and hot flashes.
When I have a hot flash, I sweat and my temperature goes down. Since my first hot flash almost ten year ago (yes, TEN years; in my family, menopause is a process that goes on and on), I rarely have my temperature problem anymore. Has anyone else experienced this?

Past Member .

9:42AM PDT on Jun 22, 2009

Thanks for the tips. I'll pass them along to my friends. Funny ... all my friends around me are menopausing and hot flashing. I'm chilly. They give me their warm fuzzy socks and warn me that I won't need them forever.

Carol H.

9:21AM PDT on Jun 22, 2009

The only two things that helped me were these two things all natural.
The name of one pill is called Femtrol by Enzymatic Women's health and Osteomatic by Shaklee Products without them I would surely not beable to sleep much less beable to anything at all those two products keep me completely cool and all of female organs are out of me and I have been using them of many many years.
I hope this helps a lot of women out there TODAY!!!

Alex R.

6:31AM PDT on Jun 22, 2009

BOY, HOWDY!!! Those are great recommendations for an overall healthy life and surely wouldn't hurt a bit...

On the serious side, getting a good night's sleep is very beneficial (if at all possible) in a room with as close to total darkness attainable; Some say try Prozac, but it's side effects negate its 50% effectiveness, go with Black Cohosh. Evening Primrose also has some benefit although it is high in Omega 6 fats which can be damaging.

Probably the most effective "treatment" available is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and, best of all it's FREE!

Sure wish someone would tell me why it's not called "Womenopause" ~