Menopause Night Sweats & Hot Flashes

Why Night Sweats Occur and How to Stop Them

In order to stop night sweats naturally you should learn about the mechanics of sweating. There is no reason why you should suffer from night sweats ever again. Once you understand how sweating evolves, you will have the knowledge to make night sweats stop.

Your Body Uses The Following Methods To Keep Itself Cool:

* Radiation (radiant energy)
* Conduction (conductive heat transfer)
* Convection (conveyance of heat)
* Sweating (we are trying to avoid this)

Our body cools itself by four main methods. The first method is radiation. Radiation is like the heat that you feel while standing in front of an oven that is on.

The second method is conduction. Conduction is the heat that you feel if you touch the oven while it is on. The third method is called convection. Convection is heat that is picked-up by the air that passes by the oven while it is on.

Simply put, convection is heat that is conveyed to the air surrounding the hot object. The forth and final method of cooling is evaporation, better known as sweating.

Typically body cooling takes place in that very order. If the body will not cool itself via radiation, conduction, or convection, you will start to sweat.

The Temperature Pendulum

The objective here is to teach you how keep your body cool and keep from sweating at night. To fully understand how to manage night sweats you must understand each method of cooling your body in order to fully evaluate your options.

One thing you should make note of is that your body will normally maintain a relatively constant temperature throughout the night. The problem occurs when your body is not keeping a constant temperature during the day or night.

People that suffer from night sweats understand the concept of varying body temperature. Therefore you will look at the cooling cycle with that in mind.

A Balancing Act

The temperature balancing act starts when you get in bed at night. You feel the cool of the sheets and the comfort of the bed. This is a good example of conductive heat transfer. Whenever there is a difference in temperature between the object you are touching and your body, you will feel either a warming sensation or a cooling sensation.

Remember that heat travels from hot objects to cooler objects. So if you touch ice you feel cold because the heat is leaving your body and going into the ice.

If you touch something that is warmer than your body you feel warmer because heat is moving from the hot object into your body. That is conductive heat transfer.

Now what happens when you are next to an object long enough to equalize the temperatures? Let’s go back to the bed scenario. When you get in bed it feels cool. Right away your bed starts to absorb the heat your body is generating.

The problem arises when the material that is absorbing your body heat is no longer able to absorb more heat. At that point your body starts to look for other methods of cooling.

In Your Bed

Heat transference by radiation will be absorbed by your bed. Radiant energy will be absorbed by the bed material until you reach a point at which the bed can no longer absorb more radiant heat.

Conductive heat transference, which is the heat that is transferred when you touch something, will be absorbed into your bed as well. This heat will also accumulate until your bed can no longer absorb any more.

Convection, which is the transference of heat by conveying that heat, in this case to air, is only effective when you can generate air movement within that space. Heat will transfer from your body to the air around you and then move off, either by a buoyancy difference or by induced movement.

What this means is that when air gets warmer it tends to rise and be replaced by cooler air. If the air is induced to move, like standing in a breezeway or next to a fan, hot air will move off giving fresh cooler air an opportunity to absorb more heat.

Being that you are in a bed, covered with sheets, and the air surrounding you is trapped, the fresh air required for convection to work properly, is not there.

But if that was case wouldn’t everyone sweat in bed? The short answer is no.

Equilibrium

There is a point where you reach equilibrium between heat absorption of your bed and heat generation of your body. This is the point where your bed is able to absorb enough heat to keep you comfortable. This is your comfort zone.

Let’s say your body generates 200 units of heat every minute. Now equilibrium is where the bed is able to absorb 200 units of heat each minute. At that point you can sleep comfortably; you are in an equalized state.

Now let’s say your bed is absorbing 250 units of heat every minute, but you are only generating 200 units of heat each minute. In this situation you will have a cold bed. This is not equilibrium.

If your bed can only absorb 150 units of heat each minute and you are generating 200 units of heat, then you have a hot bed. This again is not equilibrium.

Those Hot Bodies

If you are suffering from night sweats, your body is generating heat at different levels during the night. Although you are able to get into bed and it feels nice and cool, that feeling fast evades you. For those of us that have night sweats, we are dealing with a body that generates heat at varying temperatures all night long.

As with the previous mentioned equalized bed scenario, when you first get into bed your body is generating 200 units of heat each minute. Your bed is absorbing 200 units of heat each minute. You are in equilibrium, all is well. But then your body temperature rises.

Now your body is generating more than 200 units of heat each minute and your bed can’t keep up. If you are generating 250 units of heat each minute and the bed can only absorb 200 units of heat, where will those extra 50 units of heat go? They will go nowhere. They start to accumulate and buildup between the sheets.

This buildup of extra heat starts a downhill roll right to sweating. Once the extra heat starts to accumulate, and your body starts to get warmer, the only method left for cooling your body is sweating.

Turning Off The Oven

So the question is how do you solve the problem of excessive heat that leads to sweating. In order to do this you must look at the three main methods of cooling and see what you can work with to keep your body cool.

Radiation is the first method used by your body to eliminate heat. Yet that heat is much like heat transferred by conduction. It is absorbed into the bed and will contribute to night sweats. This heat must be drawn out of your bed.

Conduction is the second method of cooling your body. The only way to utilize this is to make the bed much cooler. Conduction is the method that doctors are prescribing when they tell you to keep your room cooler.

Keeping your room cooler will help your bed absorb more radiant heat and conductive heat but relying on conduction can be cumbersome. The cost associated with hyper cooling a room and the effect extra coolness has on other members of the house are just two reasons to look else ware.

Remember the bed that absorbs 250 units of heat is a cold bed when you are only generating 200 units of heat.
The third method of keeping you body cool is to utilize convection. But convection requires air movement to be effective. So how do you move air when you are between the sheets?

There are several things you can do move the air between your sheets. One is to kick off the covers and let some cool air in. The other is to raise the sheets and allow some air to flow in. When you lower the sheets the hot air flows out, The other option is to use a fan made specifically for this situation.

Keeping Your Cool

With all the methods stated above you will find that moving air between your sheets and around your body is actually a simple, cost effective way to keep your body and your bed, cool.

A special fan that can generate a light breeze between your sheets will be more effective then lowering your thermostat by six to eight degrees. This type of cooling system will also benefit you in the following ways.

* Much lower cost of cooling then air conditioning.
* Variable speed under your pillow
* Can be directed at a single user
* Evacuates stagnant, humid air trapped between your sheets
* Keeps you and your bed at a constant temperature

A system like this will generate a light breeze that will travel between your sheets along your body and push the hot air out of your bed. It will also eliminate the heat that has been building-up within your bed.

Any conductive heat or radiant heat that has built-up in your bed will be eliminated with the breeze. Neither your body nor your bed will accumulate that extra that typically awakens you at night. .

The extra body heat that you generate during the night, will be quickly moved out from between your sheets. This simple breeze will keep your body from ever reaching the point at which it starts to sweat. This is the most effective method of dealing with night sweats when you look at it from a thermal dynamics point of view.

There are other methods of dealing with the effects of night sweats, like wicking pajamas and absorbent sheets, but those are not dealing with the problem at hand. They are only dealing with the aftermath of the problem. They are collecting sweat. What you want to do is keep from sweating all together.

Kurt Tompkins
http://www.bedfan.com

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Mary Anne Nichols: Comedian

Mary Anne Nichols, Stand Up Comedian, talks about why seniors shouldn’t get tattoos and boob jobs! The Jolene Sugarbaker company is pleased to air specially

Duration : 0:1:43

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Never Too Old To Rock

Hot Flashes is an original, hit musical about a 5-woman band that ages from 40 to 70. The show has been delighting audiences in Portland,

Duration : 0:3:1

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The Basics of Peri-menopause

Menopause signals the end of a woman’s childbearing days. It is marked by the end of a woman’s monthly period. This is primarily because of the ovaries’ inability to produce eggs. Contrary to popular notion, women do not have a wellspring of eggs. Their ova also run out. Menopause is also caused by the decrease in the secretion of the female sex hormones, progesterone and estrogen.

Like all natural processes, menopause does not just occur without any warning signs. In fact, the body prepares for it, knowing instinctively that a woman cannot cope with the changes abruptly. The preparation of the body is a very gradual process that can take years. This is what the scientific and medical community calls Perimenopause.

Peri-menopause or what is called premenopause is the period in a woman’s life when her body is starting to ready itself towards menopause. This often occurs during the mid-40s; although some may experience some signs and symptoms in their mid-30s.

Perimenopause is not just a short period of time, In fact, it can last for as long as two to eight years depending on the person. Some clinicians even say that it can last for as long as 15 years!

Up until now, there is still no explanation why some women have longer periods of pre-menopause than others. Because there is no specific year span when it occurs, women and even their doctors often overlook the symptoms of premenopause and its effects in the body.

Unlike during menopause where levels of progesterone and estrogen go on a nosedive, hormonal levels during premenopause are erratic. Levels rise and fall. Because of these changes, women may experience disruptions in their monthly menstrual cycles. Menstruation may suddenly extend for a few days or shorten to just a couple of days.

Shortened cycles are the result of the drop in estrogen levels, leading to the shortening of the follicular phase. Cycles can shorten to 24-26 days. This means that there will more frequent monthly cycles than before. On the other side, women may also experience infrequent monthly flow because of the lengthening of the menstrual cycle.

Women in premenopause may also find it hard to conceive although it is not impossible. This is because there are menstrual cycles when women do not ovulate.

Like in menopause, declining levels of the female hormones may result in the experiences of a host of symptoms that are often seen during menopause; symptoms like hot flashes, where women will experience abrupt changes in their body temperatures; incontinence; vaginal dryness because of the decrease in lubrication and elasticity; breast tenderness; mood swings and see-saw of emotions; sleeping problems and other potential complications such as bone loss and osteoporosis.

Symptoms of course vary from one person to another. Some may experience all of them while others may not feel a thing. In fact, some women’s menstrual cycles will just stop without ever experiencing any symptoms at all. This is the reason why premenopause is so hard to detect.

Because of the appearance of these symptoms, many believe that when detected, women undergoing premanopause must begin hormonal therapy in order to balance or combat these problems.

Declining levels of hormones may become such a problem that some doctors may even recommend surgical interventions such as hysterectomy, a procedure wherein the uterus is removed. This however only happens to a very small percentage of women. If your doctor recommends this, try to get a second opinion, as this is not a small thing. Other doctors may provide you with alternatives to it.

Nathalie Fiset
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/the-basics-of-perimenopause-73543.html

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Coping With Early Menopause Symptoms

There are several factors that may contribute to a woman experiencing early menopause (menopause before the age of 45), which include premature ovarian failure, surgery, cancer treatment, viral infections, thyroid disease and many others. No matter what the case may be, hearing that you’re going through menopause years before you were expecting to enter this transition can be very scary and intimidating, leaving you with many unanswered questions.

It’s so very important to realize that you can and will continue to be the same person – you’re not going to suddenly transform into an old lady, so don’t allow your mind to believe you will. You may be feeling like you’re less attractive or less desirable, but when these feelings of inadequacy pop into your head, remind yourself that you’re still a young woman and all that comes with it. You’re beautiful, sexy, capable and strong. Yes, your reproductive system isn’t what it was, but keep in mind that you’re much more than eggs and fallopian tubes – you’re a woman with so very much to offer.

Symptoms of early menopause can be uncomfortable, but fortunately there are many remedies that reduce and eliminate the discomforts of early menopause. Just as with menopause in an older woman, younger women experiencing early menopause will notice physical symptoms, such as:

• Irregular periods

• Infertility

• Hot flashes

• Night sweats

• Vaginal dryness

• Insomnia or disrupted sleep

• Weight gain (especially around your mid-section)

In addition to the physical symptoms of early menopause, women may also notice some changes in their emotional state, as well. It’s not unusual to experience the following:

• Irritability

• Mood swings

• Lowered libido

• Difficulty concentrating

• Confusion

• Fatigue

Coping with symptoms of early menopause can be emotionally difficult. Fortunately, lifestyle changes and other remedies can significantly reduce the physical symptoms of early menopause. Once you’ve conquered the physical signs it’s quite likely that you’ll begin to feel like your old self again and, as a result, you’ll become more optimistic and emotionally healthy. This is probably why many women choose to make lifestyle changes that have proven to effectively reduce the severity of symptoms associated with early menopause, perimenopause and menopause. For instance, it’s extremely beneficial to avoid triggers that have been known to cause hot flashes, such as hot beverages, spicy foods, alcohol, hot weather and warm rooms.

If your sleep patterns have become disrupted, try to avoid foods and beverages that contain caffeine. Also, it’s a good idea to read or take a hot bath right before bed so that you’re relaxed and more likely to fall into a nice sound sleep.

If you transform your diet into one that is healthy and includes fruits, vegetables and whole grains, you’ll notice a tremendous improvement in your overall health and just how much energy you have. You’ll want to avoid saturated fats, oils and sugars, and consume approximately 1,500 milligrams of calcium, plus 400 to 800 international units of vitamin D each day. Supplements may be required to reach these amounts. If this is the case, talk with your doctor to be certain you’re getting exactly the right dosages and ensure you’re on your way to as easy a transition as possible.

You’ll be absolutely amazed by what a regular exercise program can do to reduce and even eliminate many symptoms of early menopause. If performed correctly, exercise will protect you from conditions that are common among post-menopausal women, such as heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis. In addition to preventing these conditions, exercise will eliminate the weight gain associated with menopause and will also provide you with energy that you thought may not ever come back. Exercise has also been proven to reduce the occurrence of hot flashes.

Hormone therapy (HT) also is quite beneficial in reducing many symptoms of early menopause. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that the risks of HT, which include heart attack, stroke and breast cancer, may outweigh the benefits. While these studies may have changed the course of HT, estrogen therapy remains the most effective treatment for many early menopause symptoms. If you have not done so already, talk with your doctor to find out if a very low dose of estrogen will provide you symptom relief.

Finally, I know that this is very difficult for you and you’re likely very confused. Perhaps you were planning on having children, which may no longer be possible. Even if you weren’t considering a pregnancy, early menopause can be emotionally devastating. Please remember that you are young, you will remain young. You will no doubt get through this, because you’ve shown your strength simply by logging onto the Internet and searching for options and treatments. You’re beautiful and you have a strong resolve; I believe this and I want you to believe it too.

Susan Megge
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/coping-with-early-menopause-symptoms-59532.html

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How long will I continue to have hot flashes?

55 yrs old. Quit having periods 4 years ago, but the hot flashes and insomnia are still going on. Hot flashes extremely severe, especially at night. I’ve read reports that these types of symptoms should only last about a year. I have congestive heart failure, so I cannot use hormone replacement therapy. How much longer am I going to have to live with this?

Eat dark leafy vegetables (mustard greens) and drink a hot tea with honey before going to bed and see. Take natural thyroid products too!

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How To Use Progesterone Cream

Progesterone cream is used to treat progesterone deficiency, which can cause you to experience swollen breasts, fibrocystic breasts, low thyroid, water retention, weight gain, depression and loss of libido. While you are experiencing menopause, the amount of progesterone in your body drops to 0. We will talk about how to use progesterone cream to treat these symptoms, but first let’s look at why you would want to use it.

The use of progesterone cream helps to replace the progesterone in your body. By introducing progesterone into the body you help to restore the natural balance between progesterone and estrogen. The fluctuations of these two hormones are responsible for the majority of all symptoms of menopause and perimenopause. The combination of herbal remedies and the application of a naturally occurring progesterone cream can help restore your body’s natural balance.

Progesterone cream is a moisturizing cream that is based on the Mexican Yam root. How to use progesterone cream most effectively is to apply it to your face and hands. It can also be applied to your chest, abdomen, inner thigh and even your arms. This cream will not only help keep your skin free of dry patches but also raise the amount of naturally occurring progesterone in your body. This restoration of progesterone in your body is what helps relieve the symptoms of menopause.

There are several makers of this type of cream and you should look for the amount of progesterone in the cream and what its source is. A good cream will be aloe vera based for the moisturizing effect but it should also not clog your pores. Creams like this should also be fragrance free and should be hypoallergenic. You do not want to risk an allergic reaction to the treatment. You also don’t want to go around smelling like you have been using a progesterone cream treatment. We all know what Ben-Gay smells like.

The reason for the use of a cream to deliver progesterone is that is can be absorbed into the skin in just a few minutes. This process also allows the progesterone to bypass the liver and go straight to the specific receptors that need the progesterone in the first place.

Progesterone cream is one of the easiest steps to take in combatting menopausal symptoms. How to use progesterone cream most effectively is to simply apply it once a day in the recommended amount. You still need to be careful with anything you use to treat your menopause symptoms to make sure that you are getting what you pay for. Keeping a symptom diary will show you over time if the treatment is effective. Always be sure to let your doctor know what you are doing so you can avoid any complications from drug interactions with other meds.

Linda Bruton
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/how-to-use-progesterone-cream-to-stop-menopausal-symptoms-91259.html

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Menopause Night Sweats and Hot Flashes

Menopause Night Sweats and Hot Flashes are the key topics on this site. We look at all aspects of Menopause and what is being said and done about the issue. We look at Night Sweats, why Night Sweats occur and how we can make them stop or at least control the hot flashes derived sweating. We look at the root cause of menopause night sweats, the Hot Flashes, and we learn about hot flashes from a medical perspective as well as the humor side when we can. This site, menopause night sweats and hot flashes, will try to keep you up to date on all things related to Hot Flashes, Night sweats and Menopause. We hope that you will enjoy what find and pass the information on to your friends.

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