[Meditation] Mindfulness Helps Hot Flashes By Controlling Stress

I read an interesting article this morning about help for hot flashes that has a twist I hadn’t thought about. It comes from an unusual source, not the normal health blogs that I usually quote. First, some background.

Hot flashes (and night sweats) are related to the levels of our hormones going up and down which does not allow our body to properly regulate our temperature. Our core temperature actually goes down during a hot flash while our body pushes heat to our skin.

There are many factors that contribute to hot flashes that affect our hormones, including stress, diet, and exercise. I feel much better when I stay away from dairy products and food that shoots up my blood sugar and when I get exercise.

However, the article I read on Fox News suggested that mindfulness training (meditation) helped relieve stress, which did not reduce hot flashes, but allowed the participants to better cope with them. Interesting! I’ve never thought about that side of it but it makes sense. If we reduce stress in our lives, we have more energy to deal with other things. So meditation (called mindfulness in this article) has other benefits than I mention on the Feel Great After 50 Lifestyle Page.

Here is a link to the full article called Mindfulness Classes Help Women With Hot Flashes.

What do you think? What do you do to reduce or cope with your hot flashes (or night sweats)?

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