With SEX, No Drugs and Rock'n Roll Through Menopause. Susanne McAllister

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       Decrease alcohol intake as this can increase the amount of facial flushing you get with hot flashes.

       Decrease the amount of stress you are under.

       Quit smoking or do not start smoking during this time of your life.

       Wear several layers of clothing that can be peeled off when you begin to get hot.

       Buy a portable fan so you can fan yourself when you get hot.

       Exercise regularly every day for at least thirty minutes. Try not to exercise right before you sleep as this can affect your ability to get to sleep.

       Decrease stress through the use of biofeedback, meditation, yoga, nia, qi gong, or Tai chi. These are natural ways of reducing the amount of perceived stress.

       Try this breathing technique when you get a hot flash: take in deep abdominal breaths, in through your nose and out through the mouth. Breathe slowly, only 5-7 times per minute.

       Use a bedside fan to remain cool at night.

       Drink cool water if you wake up with a hot flash or night sweats during your sleep.

       Use a cooling pillow or turn your pillow often so that you don’t have to sleep on the hot side of the pillow all night. Keep a cool pack under the pillow so you can flip to a cool pillow during the night.

       Try to lose weight if you are overweight. Women who are obese have more problems with hot flashes than women of normal weight do. You can lose weight through healthy eating and maintaining an exercise program that will help you decrease your hot flashes.

       Acupuncture. A trained acupuncturist can help you reduce the blocked flow of qi energy so as to decrease the number and intensity of hot flashes.

       Try eating foods high in phytoestrogens

       We will go more into detail about which supplements and herbs can help in chapter 7.

      One study showed that exercise decreased the incidence and intensity of hot flashes. The study was done on 21 women who were having menopausal symptoms. Fourteen of the women took part in an exercise program for four months, while the rest did not change their exercise activities. After the study, the women completed a questionnaire that asked them about how many hot flashes they had and how intense the hot flashes were. They also caused hot flashes by placing the participants in a hot water suit and recorded their body responses.

      The exercising participants took part in a gym-based exercise program, in which they used a stationary bicycle, a treadmill, a cross-trainer, and/or a rowing machine. They were asked to exercise initially for thirty minutes, later increasing to 45-minute exercise sessions a day for at least five days a week.

      After the 16-week study, the researchers measured the incidence and severity of the hot flashes each woman experienced. They found that, in the women who exercised, the amount of sweating during a hot flash was markedly reduced. There was a decrease in blood flow to the forearms by 7 percent and a decrease in blood flow to the chest by 9 percent. There was also a decrease in blood flow to the brain in those women who exercised.

      Women who did not exercise had no difference in the incidence and severity of hot flashes. While the study was small, it did indicate the possibility that exercise could help women with hot flashes.

      Here are my other suggestions:

       Stop Hot Flashes Naturally during Menopause with Phytoestrogens

      For many decades in the past, doctors looked at oestrogen as the treatment of choice for women entering their menopausal years for the management of hot flashes, night sweats, mood changes, and the other symptoms of menopause. As a natural menopause coach, it is important for me to teach women how to stop hot flashes naturally during menopause with phytoestrogens so that they don’t have to go down the HRT road unless absolutely necessary because of its dangers and side effects.

      Therefore researchers began to look at the effectiveness of phytoestrogens in the treatment of the symptoms of menopause.

      Phytoestrogens are plant-derived compounds that mimic oestrogen in the body. There are several types of plants that have phytoestrogens in them, including all soy-related plants and the foods that come from them. There are also herbal products that contain phytoestrogens.

       Research Reports on Phytoestrogens

      Research studies have been looked at to see if women given phytoestrogens could have a resolution of their symptoms when given these products instead of traditional hormone therapy.

      The studies all lasted longer than twelve weeks and included giving women soy extracts, soy products, red clover extracts, and other sources of phytoestrogens. There was no significant difference between giving red clover extract and a placebo in controlling hot flashes in two trials.

      A few studies found a slight lessening of the severity and frequency of night sweats and hot flashes, but many got better by taking the placebo drug. There was no significant evidence showing that phytoestrogens could treat the symptoms of menopause in the same way that women with regular oestrogen did.

      Studies also looked at the usage of flaxseed, which is another type of phytoestrogen, for the treatment of hot flashes. A study out of the Mayo Clinic looked at thirty female participants and gave them crushed flaxseed every day for six weeks to see if their hot flashes diminished. The average decrease in hot flashes was about 50 percent with a severity improvement of about 57 percent.

      It should be noted that many plants with phytoestrogens in them contain very little of the phytoestrogen and they didn’t affect the body at all. Herbs, on the other hand, contain bigger amounts of phytoestrogens that can have an effect on the human body.

      Phytoestrogens work by stimulating human oestrogen and by mimicking oestrogen. They may be of use in treating women who have deficiencies in oestrogen because of menopause.

       Phytoestrogen Sources

      Phytoestrogens come in three basic types:

      1 isoflavones, 2) flavanols, and 3) flavones.

      The following foods groups are rich in phytoestrogens:

      Nuts and seeds

       Sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and flaxseeds contain high levels of phytoestrogens.

      The following nuts and seeds are high in phytoestrogens:

       flaxseeds

       sunflower seeds

       sesame seeds

       almonds

       walnuts

      Fruits

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