Herb Consults

By Christine Hasinger, DOM

Are Hot Flashes & Night Sweats Keeping You Up?

Women will often experience hot flashes and night sweats during menopause leading to trouble sleeping.

Frequently, these sleep symptoms will interfere with a decent nights sleep, often for months on end.   The hormone fluctuations of menopause and perimenopause are a common cause of sleep problems and insomnia.

An estimated 75% of menopausal women suffer from hot flashes.   The hot flashes can be mild to severe.  Sometimes the hot flashes can be so severe, you feel as if you are burning up.  This is called “steaming bones” in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

Night sweats follow the hot flashes.  Again these sweats can be mild to severe.  I’ve even heard of women complaining that their nightclothes are soaked or the bed linens are drenched in sweat.  Many have to get up and change their nightgown or sheets in the middle of the night, and then have difficulty getting back to sleep.

Once a sweat passes, your body gets chilled and that’s what tends to wake most women up.

I frequently hear my patients complaining of insomnia without realizing that their hot flashes and night sweats are a major contributing factor in their sleep disturbances.

The hot flashes and night sweats can start years before the onset of menopause and generally are the first symptoms of your body changing.  These can occur during the day as well.  Read more... (882 words, estimated 3:32 mins reading time)

Tags: disturbed sleep, herbal formulas, Herbal Medicine, hot flashes, insomnia, menopausal sleep problems, menopause, night sweats, sleep disturbances, sleep problems, trouble sleeping, Uncategorized