Hot flashes and night sweats are the most common menopause symptoms. While they arise from similar causes, they can cause different symptoms.
As specialists in menopause and hormone therapy, Chetanna Okasi, MD, and the Women’s Wellness MD team have helped many women navigate these menopause challenges, no matter which symptoms they experience.
Here’s what you need to know about the similarities and differences between hot flashes and night sweats.
Hot flashes and night sweats are vasomotor symptoms caused by menopause. Vasomotor refers to changes in blood vessels that are responsible for the sudden, intense heat that occurs during a hot flash or night sweat. However, these changes begin in your brain.
Hormonal fluctuations before and after menopause affect the brain areas that regulate body temperature. As a result, your brain misinterprets small temperature changes and determines you’re overheating (even when you’re not).
Then, the brain activates cooling activities that cause your symptoms. Your blood vessels enlarge, allowing blood to rush to the skin’s surface to cool down. You also sweat, another natural mechanism for lowering your body temperature.
Since your body wasn’t overheated, the cooling strategies make your body too cool. Then, your brain triggers chills and shivering to boost the core temperature.
Health conditions other than menopause rarely cause hot flashes. Night sweats are different. Many health conditions can cause night sweats. A few examples include:
If you have night sweats and you’re not sure you’re entering menopause, schedule an evaluation to learn the underlying cause and get the treatment needed to stay healthy.
Night sweats are hot flashes that occur when you’re sleeping, a fact that highlights the first difference between them: their timing. Hot flashes can occur during the day or night, while night sweats only develop when you’re sleeping.
Your symptoms may also differ. More intense sweating compared to hot flashes characterizes night sweats. You’re likely to wake up because your clothes and sheets are drenched in sweat, not because you’re suddenly too hot.
Sweating is also likely to last longer during night sweats, increasing in intensity before gradually winding down.
By comparison, the primary symptom of a hot flash is sudden, severe heat that begins in the face and neck, typically spreading throughout your body. Even though hot flashes can make you sweat, your sweating is usually light, ends quickly, and may not drench your clothes.
Lifestyle changes such as layering your clothes and avoiding triggers may help you manage mild or infrequent vasomotor symptoms.
However, most women have moderate to severe symptoms that aren’t easy to relieve, disrupt their days, and interrupt their sleep.
While you may get tempted to live with hot flashes and night sweats until they end, that could take longer than you think. Vasomotor symptoms last at least seven years on average.
There’s no reason to be miserable for years when you have treatment options like bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT).
BHRT uses natural, plant-based hormones that are chemically identical to the hormones produced by your body. Most women can safely take BHRT to restore hormonal balance.
As BHRT brings estrogen levels back to their healthy levels, your hot flashes and night sweats end. And that’s not the only health benefit you gain.
BHRT helps prevent other conditions caused by low estrogen at menopause, such as:
We’re here to help you manage hot flashes, night sweats, and other menopause-related challenges. Call Women’s Wellness MD today or connect online to request an appointment.
