Several tips to help you relieve hot flashes

Hot flashes are experienced by many but not all women undergoing menopause. A hot flash is a feeling of intense warmth that spreads over the body. In this article, I will mainly show some tips on helping relieve hot flashes.

Breathe slowly and deeply

Paced breathing involves breathing in slowly through your nose for at least 5 seconds and out slowly through your mouth for at least 5 seconds. You'll know you're doing it right if you see your abdomen rise with each breath in and feel your lungs inflate. You'll find it quite a contrast to your normal tight, tense and shallow breathing. Like other mind-body therapies, paced breathing calms the sympathetic nervous system and enhances circulation. 

One study of 33 women with frequent hot flashes compared the effects of eight sessions of paced breathing training, muscle relaxation and biofeedback. Women doing the breathing exercises had half as many hot flashes as those doing biofeedback. They also breathed more slowly overall. 

Lose a few pounds

It makes intuitive sense that the more excess weight you're hauling around, the hotter you'll feel—with or without menopause! And, in fact, studies have found that overweight women often have more hot flashes than women with normal weight. The reason may lie in that excess fat traps heat, making you sweat more to cool off your body, or because the blood vessels in overweight women dilate more when they encounter heat or stress. And this dilation brings more blood to the surface of the skin, making you feel hotter. Therefore, to relieve hot flashes, it is necessary for you to lose weight.

According to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2010, losing weight could help you lose your hot flashes.

Munch on soy foods

Soy, one of the natural remedies for hot flashes, contains phytoestrogens which are believed helpful for alleviating many symptoms related to perimenopause and menopause.

A study was conducted recently in which 37 women who used the soy supplement. And 75 percent of them are reported relief from hot flashes. Tests showed they also experienced a measurable increase in bone density. It was concluded that including soy products in your diet may offer many health benefits. However, you should be cautious with soy supplementation for hot flashes until more research is done as there are still conflicting results as to its efficacy.

Take hormone therapy

The most effective treatment for hot flashes is estrogen. However, there are some restrictions. Women who have had a hysterectomy can take estrogen alone. But if you still have a uterus, you should take progesterone along with estrogen to protect against cancer of the lining of the uterus (endometrial cancer).