Night sweats are a common problem during menopause, affecting 75-80% of women. Many deal with night sweats until they end. But there’s a problem with that approach.
Without treatment, night sweats can last for 6-15 years. That’s way too long to struggle with the discomfort. Don’t put up with disrupted sleep because that leads to a new group of health problems.
Chetanna Okasi, MD, and our Women’s Wellness MD team recommend lifestyle strategies for managing night sweats and specialize in menopause and hormone therapy to eliminate menopause symptoms.
Night sweats are the same as hot flashes, but they occur while you’re sleeping. Their medical name, vasomotor symptoms of menopause, reflects why they happen.
Vasomotor refers to sudden, spontaneous changes in blood vessels as they relax and expand (dilation) and tighten and narrow (constriction). The resulting changes in blood flow affect your body temperature.
Though several health conditions cause vasomotor symptoms, hot flashes, and night sweats during menopause are among the most common. They occur as the drop in estrogen affects the part of your brain that regulates body temperature.
The brain thinks you’re too warm (when you’re not) and tries to cool you down by dilating blood vessels in your skin. As blood rushes to the surface, you experience:
Night sweats may cool your body enough to cause chills.
Changing your environment and lifestyle may help you prevent night sweats. Here are five suggestions:
A cool room may prevent night sweats and help you sleep better.
You may want to sleep with the fan on to lower your body temperature. But even if you don't run it throughout the night, having a fan nearby makes it easy to turn on to relieve night sweats when they occur.
Spicy foods, hot beverages, alcohol, and caffeine are known to trigger night sweats. You may also notice that other foods and drinks trigger your vasomotor symptoms. Avoiding them can go a long way toward easing night sweats.
Some mattresses cool your body. However, memory foam mattresses often raise your temperature by trapping body heat. Using a cooling mattress pad or topper can help. You may also want to try a cooling pillow.
Certain prescription medications can trigger night sweats (and hot flashes). We review your medications to determine if they may be the culprit.
Dietary supplements containing soy products and black cohosh can improve hot flashes and night sweats. While both contain active ingredients that mimic estrogen, there isn’t enough scientific evidence to support their benefits or effectiveness.
Additionally, both can interact with medications, and black cohosh may cause liver damage. Talk with us before taking supplements to be sure they’re safe for you.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is an effective solution for women with moderate to intolerable night sweats and other menopause symptoms like vaginal dryness, pain during sex, and urinary tract infections.
HRT restores hormonal balance, bringing your levels of estrogen back to their pre-menopausal level and eliminating all the symptoms caused by menopause. Most women can safely use HRT, especially the bioidentical HRT we offer.
Bioidentical hormones are customized to meet your specific hormone needs. They’re also naturally produced to be identical to your body's hormones. That means they work the same way and have a much lower risk of side effects than synthetic hormones.
If you have a medical condition preventing you from HRT, we may prescribe non-hormonal medications proven to help reduce menopause symptoms.
For example, some antidepressants, antihypertensive, and antiseizure medications relieve night sweats. However, these medications may not be the best option because they can also cause side effects.
Having your sleep disrupted by night sweats increases your risk of developing problems related to sleep deficiency, such as weight gain, high blood pressure, heart disease, and a weakened immune system.
Call Women’s Wellness MD today to get help for night sweats. You can also use online booking to request the next available appointment.
