When it Comes to Hot Flashes, Symptoms Include Chills
It seems funny to think that when you get hot flashes, symptoms could include a bout of the chills. How can your body be so hot one minute and so cold the next? It makes perfect sense when you understand just what causes hot flashes symptoms.
Hot flashes are caused by a drop in your estrogen levels as you prepare to enter menopause. When the estrogen supply is diminished, it has quite an effect on the part of the brain called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is responsible for many of your body’s functions including the control of your sleep cycles, sex hormones, appetite, and your body temperature. When estrogen production slows down, the hypothalamus gets confused and doesn’t know what to do. This causes your body to grow too hot at a rapid pace. When this heat wave occurs, your body quickly tries to cool down. Your heart begins to pump faster, trying to purge your body of its accumulated heat. The blood vessels in your skin suddenly dilate in an effort to circulate more blood and radiate heat away from your body. Most obvious of all, your sweat glands start producing copious amounts of sweat.
A woman’s body heat can actually increase by six degrees Celsius during a hot flash. Even more amazingly, it can then cool down so quickly that she is left shivering with cold. The chill that she then experiences is made worse when she is soaked with sweat. A hot flash can last a few seconds or a few minutes. Some women have even have hot flashes that last an entire hour. No matter how long it takes to have a hot flash, it usually takes at least thirty minutes to get over one. Because your body works so hard during a hot flash, most women are exhausted by the time it is over. Many women choose to treat their hot flashes with natural remedies such as Hot Flash Freedom. Some of hot flashes symptoms include:
- Sweats hot flashes
- Hot flashes fatigue
Even though it seems funny to have a hot flash and then grow cold, it makes perfect sense. When you get a hot flash what comes next is a chill because your body works to rapidly decrease your temperature. For this reason, it is wise to prepare for the chill that follows a hot flash.
Always dress in layers so that you can quickly discard clothing and then put it back on as you need to. Keep blankets handy to snuggle under once a hot flash has passed. Wear a cotton nightgown that is easy to change in the event that it gets soaked with sweat.
When it comes to hot flashes, symptoms are not very enjoyable. Thankfully there are many ways to alleviate their duration and severity.
