Can’t Sleep Due to Hot Flashes?
If you’ve experienced hot flashes or night sweats, you know they can be a sleep disruptor and incredibly frustrating.
This is an area that isn’t discussed often enough. Like many areas of medicine for women and folks of all genders who experience menopause, there’s not enough information on the subject.
While everyone’s experience is different, some people experience very mild symptoms and aren’t bothered too much. Others find them debilitating, creating issues at work, significantly disrupting sleep, and relationships.
So, what causes night sweats and hot flashes?
Essentially, due to drops in estrogen levels, the body has difficulty regulating and regulating temperature. So as heat rises either in the room or internally as in the case of increased body temperature due to stress, the body begins to sweat as it tries to cool down.
Some people find it helpful to use tools at night to help their body regulate temperature and cool down.
For example:
Sweat wicking Pajamas
Wearing light layers that can easily be taken off in the middle of the night
Light layered blankets
Cooling sheets or mattress toppers
Temperature regulating mattresses
Air conditioned sheets (This is a device that blows air into the sheets to keep things cool and dry)
Everyone is unique in what works best for them so check the return policies before diving in but some of these tools can be game changers in managing symptoms.
If you’ve tried everything and still can’t sleep, CBT-I can be especially helpful during this time to get sleep back on track. Learn more about CBT-I
What else might be triggering the hot flashes besides temperature?
Interestingly, beliefs about menopause make a difference in how we experience it. If we go in expecting it to be horrible, that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. In other words, because we believe it will be horrible, we are more likely to pay attention to the worst parts of it which makes it feel worse. There’s a book titled “Managing Hot Flushes and Night Sweats: A Cognitive Behavioural Self-help Guide to the Menopause” (2) which offers some guidance for managing the symptoms in a way that can prevent it from escalating.
Stress can also be a factor:
When someone is experiencing hot flashes or night sweats, this can often lead to stress. Stress increases our core body temperature, which only makes the sweats worse.
It’s important to remember, that it’s not your fault and you’re not doing anything wrong. It can be a stressful experience. I’ve included a graphic below that shows the connection between stress and hot flashes or night sweats. (2)
How long will I have to deal with these symptoms?
Unfortunately, there’s no one clear answer, it varies a lot from person to person. Scientists and medical professionals used to think it lasted 2-5 years but some studies show that it seems to be longer. In Australia, there was a 13- year long study that followed participants through menopause from when they first started having hot flashes/night sweats until they stopped. The average was a little over 5 years but some of the participants continued to have hot flashes/night sweats into their 50s and 60s although this may have had more to do with stopping or starting hormone therapy rather than constantly having hot flashes and night sweats for decades. More regular exercise was associated with shorter symptoms. If you’re interested, I’ve linked the study below so you can read further. (1)
Understandably, this can be frustrating, but you don’t have to go through it alone.
Working with a therapist can be helpful as well as self-help tools like the book mentioned above.
If you find that night sweats are disrupting your sleep, reach out for a free consultation today.
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