You're in a board meeting and the air-conditioning is on at full blast.Suddenly, you feel an intense wave of heat rising from your body toyour face.
"What was that?" you wonder. "Okay, keep cool."
But your face reddens and beads of sweat start trickling downyour temples. Then the heat wave subsides and you find yourselfdrenched in cold sweat.
Hot flashes are bothersome and when they hit you in public --and can be terribly embarrassing. The worst part is you can't doanything about it when it happens, whether it's in the middle of lunch,at a party, or halfway through an important meeting.
Hot flashes, the most common symptom of menopause, may bepreceded or accompanied by a rapid heartbeat and sweating, dizziness,nausea, headache, weakness, anxiety or a feeling of suffocation.
Most menopausal women have plenty of bizarre stories to shareand only a very fortunate few never experience hot flashes. Some get ita few times a day and others, hourly.
Strangely, when hot flashes occur, your internal bodytemperature stays constant. You may feel like you're on fire, but yourinternal body temperature remains normal. It's only the temperature ofyour skin that heats up, usually by one to four degrees Celsius and upto seven degrees in more intense cases. On the average, they lastbetween 30 seconds and five minutes.
It is said that the decline of estrogen during theperi-menopausal years does something to your brain. To be more precise,it alters the hypothalamus, a part of your brain that acts like athermostat of sorts and is responsible for body temperature and otherfunctions (e.g. sex hormones, appetite and sleep cycles). How that happens, no one knows. All we know is thatdiminishing estrogen levels confuse the hypothalamus. When thathappens, the thermostat reads "HOT" and the brain reacts to the suddenchange by sending out signals to the heart, blood vessels and nervoussystem. In response, our heart pumps faster and blood vessels in theskin dilate to circulate more blood and radiate heat. Sweat is releasedto enable our body to cool down even further. Normally, all this happens when the temperature around us goesup, like outdoors on a hot afternoon. However, hot flashes can occureven in cold places or in the middle of the night. Most women get hot flashes in the first year or two aftertheir periods stop. A few will continue to experience them for manymore years. However, over time, the intensity decreases. Earlier is not better when it comes to menopause. You maythink "good riddance" to menstruation, but an early menopause couldmean intense hot flashes. Early menopause also puts you more at riskfrom problems like osteoporosis and heart disease.
Here are cool tips to minimise the effects of hot flashes: Avoid stress and spicy food, hot weather, hot showers,diet pills, alcohol, smoking and caffeine. Choose cotton, linen or rayon over heat-trapping materiallike wool, synthetics and silk. Use cotton bedsheets. Stay cool. Lower the thermostat if you're feeling hot.Avoid hot places. Take a cool shower before sleeping. Try an all-time natural remedy. Black Cohosh is known forits ability to treat hot flashes and night sweats. Known scientificallyas Cimicifuga racemose, the plant was used for centuries by NorthAmerican Indians for menopausal relief. It is now available as asupplement. Source: New Straits Times.Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. Powered by Yellowbrix.
