85% of women deal with them, our grandmothers and moms have been warning us about them for years…. but NOTHING can prepare you for the disruption that hot flashes bring to your life.
You’re in a meeting, talking to your boss, reading labels in the grocery store, and suddenly, it starts…
You feel some heat and itch settling in on your neck and it creeps along, spreading to your face, chest, and back… and suddenly you just CAN’T get cool fast enough.
If you could, you’d strip down right then and there… but that’s frowned upon, so you stand there and suffer, praying you don’t sweat through your new favorite blouse right there in front of everyone.
Hot flashes are silent, and many of us try to hide the fact we have them, or even just laugh them away (“Whew, having a hot flash over here!”). But the reality is, they’re embarrassing, disruptive, and down-right frustrating.
Our culture and even previous generations of women tell us that hot flashes are a “normal” part of the transition to menopause. But what if there were a better way?
What if you didn’t have to resign yourself to hot flashes and night sweats (which are just hot flashes that happen at night) and you empowered yourself with solutions to actually DO SOMETHING about how you’re feeling, instead of just living with it?
It is possible.
This is exactly my mission in my newest book, The Essential Oils Menopause Solution. Go here to order it now and get even more tips like you’ll find in this post!
Why Hot Flashes Happen
When it comes to dealing with hot flashes, it’s important to get down to the root. They aren’t just happening for no reason. There are particular changes and triggers you can identify in your life to prevent them from setting in. These include…
- Changing hormone levels (including estrogen and progesterone) that throw off your body’s temperature control
- Insulin resistance and blood sugar spikes and dips (1)
- Environmental triggers including stress, outdoor temperature changes, and certain foods (like alcohol, spicy food, caffeine, hot beverages, and MSG)
What Can You Do About Hot Flashes
Whether or not you immediately identify with one of these root causes, there are 5 things I recommend to help you get your cool back.
#1 – Pay Intention to Insulin
Estrogen and progesterone get the spotlight when it comes to menopause. However, insulin is just as (if not more) important (check out this podcast episode to learn more). When you’re dealing with hot flashes, it’s likely that insulin is a player.
For example, if you find that hot flashes hit mid-afternoon after a rushed, carb-heavy lunch, the spikes and dips of your blood sugar levels could be contributing to your misery.
Insulin resistance is also a major factor to watch out for during menopause. Insulin resistance occurs, for many of us, because most of our calories come in the form of simple carbohydrates (rice, bread, desserts, chips, certain fruits, and fruit juice)—these are sugars that quickly enter the bloodstream as glucose.
The body has to spike high levels of insulin to keep all that glucose in the bloodstream from spiraling out of control. Over time, your cells simply can’t keep up. They stop responding to the insulin signal and the body becomes “insulin resistant” or “insulin blocked.”
This makes your body release even more insulin to regulate your blood sugar, which leads to way too much insulin in your bloodstream. Too much insulin disrupts cellular metabolism, spreads inflammation, and, according to research, is likely a root cause of hot flashes.
Unless your insulin metabolism is balanced and functioning, you will never be able to reduce hot flashes, lose weight, or relieve other menopause symptoms.
#2 – Reduce Stress
Stress is the #1 root cause of every chronic disease, and it’s no surprise that hot flashes happen more often, when you’re bearing the burden of pent-up stress!
Research shows that deep breathing, mindfulness, positive sexual experiences, and getting enough sleep can all help lower your stress AND reduce the occurrence of hot flashes!
Check out THIS post for some of my favorite stress-relieving techniques, and THIS post for tips to get you sleeping better ASAP!
#3 – Make Some Food Switches
The #1 way to get your insulin under control is by eliminating inflammatory, carb-heavy foods from your diet. I know, you may not want to hear it—but it’s a fact that bread, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, high-sugar fruits; and even spicy foods can trigger hot flashes! (2)
Replacing these with superfoods like pomegranates, flaxseed cruciferous veggies, legumes, organic soy, and fruits like apples, berries, peaches, and plums can help control your insulin levels. They also support overall hormone balance and reduce inflammation in your body.
#4 – Support Your Hormones with Supplements
Supporting your hormones during perimenopause and menopause may seem daunting. Things are in flux, our culture tells us we just have to “deal with” these changes, and really… who has the energy to actually do something about it anyway?
But here’s the truth: supplements are the EASIEST and FASTEST way to experience health and hormone wins, even during and after perimenopause and menopause! And hot flashes are no exception.
Research is promising that black cohosh is an effective way to prevent and diminish hot flashes. (3) Especially when combined with the hormone-stabilizing ingredients like DIM, vitex, antioxidants, B vitamins, and magnesium, the inflammation-fighting power of these ingredients is multiplied to bring you maximum relief from your biggest hormone concerns (including hot flashes), naturally!
You can get all of these in perfect proportions in my custom-formulated Essentially Whole Hormone Balance supplement blend. Click here to get it now!
#5 – Have Essential Oils on Hand to Cool You Down at a Moment’s Notice
When you feel the fire set in and you’re desperate for ANYTHING to bring relief, essential oils can step in and bring some instant cool!
Funny story… my mom used to take the spritz blend (below) to work with her when her hot flashes were at their worst. When word got out about how well it worked, women would be lining up asking for the “magic spray” all day long!
The hormone-balancing power of these essential oils combined with the cooling sensation of Peppermint is a secret weapon to fight hot flashes instantly when they strike!
Hot Flash Spritz
Ingredients:
7 drops Clary Sage essential oil
7 drops Peppermint essential oil
5 drops Geranium essential oil
2 ounces witch hazel
Directions:
Add essential oils to a 2-ounce glass spray bottle and fill to the top with witch hazel. Replace the top and swirl to combine. To use, shake well, and spritz on the back of your neck, decolletage, and other areas where the sweats threaten during hot moments. Use as needed. If you need extra cooling power, just increase the number of drops of Peppermint!
Last-Ditch Effort: Topical Progesterone
If you’ve tried these solutions for at least 3 months and are still facing hot flashes, it may be worth it to talk to your doctor about a bioidentical 2% progesterone cream. This can help in the most severe cases to take the edge off during the worst of perimenopause! Progesterone is safer than estrogen, and natural, bioidentical progesterone (like my Progest-Restore—check it out here) carries little risk when used correctly and can offer relief to the worst cases!
Take Back Your Power
There’s nothing that bothers me more than culture (and even doctors) telling women they have no control over how they’re feeling. That hormones run the show, rather than you controlling your hormones. That menopause is a hopeless season, and feeling overweight, tired, and miserable is just par for the course.
The Essential Oils Menopause Solution fights back against these LIES by providing cutting-edge science-backed solutions for all the biggest menopause issues you’re facing in a way that’s easy to understand. Click here to order it now!
Order The Essential Oils Menopause Solution and Get Over $500 in Bonuses
References:
Lots of great tips except the one about HIIT! As a trainer who works exclusively with women between 40-60, Resistance Training & HIIT aids with glucose disposal, metabolic function and insulin sensitivity, along with a nutritious diet. They prevent them from getting that spare tyre around their waist, help them shed fat during this phase of life and feel absolutely invicible! The last thing I would advise my ladies to do would be to drop any of these in preference for yoga or walking which are okay alongside the other two forms of training but without would not improve their lives as radically as we are able!