Posts Tagged "night sweats"

Monday Bubble: Cool..er, chill your sleep

Posted by Liz on Apr 4, 2011 in nightsweats | 0 comments

Monday Bubble? Say what?! Yeah, I’m shaking up the week a bit with a Wednesday Bubble on a Monday. Hey, why not?!

Got sleep issues? Nightsweats getting you all hot bothered (and not in a good way)? There’s yet another solution!

First there were cleavage coolers. Then the Bedfan and Chilipads. Then the Chillow. And now….

Cool Gelmats.

Yup, Cool Gelmats…the “wonderfully cool sensation that’s enough to take your breath away as you feel yourself drawn into a cool, comfortable land of slumber.” Theoretically, the gel acts to absorb heat and then disperse it to help you stay cool. And it keeps its cool without refrigeration (definitely a benefit because you might need an extra fridge to store the gel mat). Heck, you can even fold it and take it camping or on trips (w0nder if it would make it through the TSA?).

More amusing? It’s the ‘perfect partner’ to get you through the hottest of summers (and I guess, sweats).

I’m all for cooling. I’m all against night sweats. But how many coolers does one need in one’s life? Personally, I’ll stick to the devil I know. Nightsweats are a bitch. But there are ways to shut them down without resorting to pads and rubber chickens for the menopausal set.

Brrrrrr. Chill this one no.

Wednesday Bubble: Hot flashes? Try a little mindfulness…

Posted by Liz on Mar 16, 2011 in mind-body therapy | 1 comment

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dael4sb42nI]

No bubble bursting or woo woo. I’m talking the real deal. And if mindfulness doesn’t lead to a wee bit of tenderness, well, I don’t know what will. But enough of me taking poetic license with Otis.

Back in January, I wrote about a piece about the relaxation response and how a daily relaxation practice can actually alter gene structure and induce cellular changes believed to promote health. In the post, I said that “both inner and outer psychological states and environmental factors play a role in how women experience peri and post-menopause, their self-esteem, attitudes and severity of symptoms. If a daily practice of some sort of relaxation strategy can actually alter genes in a way that improves health and well-being, why can’t that daily practice also improve the menopausal/midlife experience?”

Guess what?

It appears that I might have been correct.

Writing in the Advanced Online edition of Menopause, researchers say that women who learn to recognize and more accurately discriminate the components that make up an experience, e.g. thoughts, feelings and sensations, or more specifically, the degree of bother and stress related to hot flashes, may be able to reduce the impact of the flashes on wellbeing.

In this 20 week study, women who were late into the transition into full menopause or in early menopause who reported experiencing, on average, 5 or more moderate to severe hot flashes/night sweats a week were assigned to 8 weekly mindfulness-based stress reduction classes  plus one, all day weekend class or to a waiting list. These classes, which lasted 2.5 hours at a time, involved the following:

• Focused awareness of gradually moving thoughts through one’s body from the feet to head while lying down, paying close attention to bodily sensations
• A sitting meditation focusing on breathing
• Mindful stretching
• Learning materials that discussed how to apply mindful stress reduction practice to everyday life and specifically in response to distressing symptoms and situations.

All participants also completed daily hot flash diaries to rate how bothersome their hot flashes were throughout the study period. Additionally, the researchers analyzed the intensity of hot flashes, quality of life, sleep quality, anxiety and perceived stress, as well as medical history, smoking, previous experience with mindfulness practices, and factors directly related to flashes such as smoking, body mass index, alcohol use and physical activity.

Granted, this study is a small one. But the researchers found that mindful stress reduction practice significantly reduced hot flash bother over time by almost as much as 15% after nine weeks and by almost 22% by 20 weeks, compared to at least half as much in women who were on the wait list. Moreover, sleep quality improved considerably!

Overall, the researchers say that their findings truly highlight the role that stress in general, and mental stress in particular, play in how we perceive hot flashes, how much we are bothered by them, and even their severity and frequency. However, they also say that the fact that mindfulness practice did not affect the intensity of hot flashes shows that it might simply help women cope better with them. Less clear is how the degree to which the placebo effect played a role; studies of pharmaceutical treatments report a subjective placebo effect of up to 30% so it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

Still, they believe that their data show that mindfulness stress reduction may be a significant resource for reducing the bother of hot flashes. Overall, it’s a win-win. Calm the mind; calm the body. Why not try a little tenderness with yourself?

Heart disease, flashes and sweats, oh my!

Posted by Liz on Feb 11, 2011 in heart disease | 1 comment

Heart disease is a major issue in women, especially as they age. In fact, more women die of heart disease than all forms of cancer, including breast cancer. During the time right before and up to five years after menopause starts, cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels soar, placing women at even greater risk.

I’ve written previously about the link between waning estrogen levels and heart disease risk and steps you can take to address specific risk factors. But what about vasmotor symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats? Unfortunately, in addition to being linked to elevated cholesterol and LDL, researchers are discovering that vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats actually cause calcium deposits to build up in the arteries and aorta, negatively blood pressure and increase body mass index compared to women without these symptoms.

In the latest bit of news from the research front (published in February issue of Menopause), it appears that night sweats might be the larger culprit. In fact, when researchers examined data culled from 10,787 Dutch women (mean age 53) participating in another study who were free of heart disease at the start, they discovered that over a period of approximately 10 years, women reporting night sweats had a 33% increased risk for heart disease compared to women who were asymptomatic. In comparison, hot flashes did not appear to increase risk in any significant way. What’s more, risk remained even after the researchers accounted for factors that might influence risk, such as BMI, blood pressure and total cholesterol. Additionally, elevated risk was even seen among women both who had used hormone replacement and had never used hormone therapy or oral contraceptives.

Before you become anxious about these findings, it is important to note that when the researchers did a second analysis that adjusted for sleep and mood (both of which have been linked to vasomotor symptoms and heart disease), and found that while risk was still elevated, it was no longer significant. This implies that factors other than night sweats might also be contributing to heart disease risk, and that the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for increases in nervous system activity and blood vessel abnormalities, may also play a role.

Meanwhile, prevention recommendations continue to be fairly straightforward:

• Don’t smoke or quit if you do.
• Exercise…at least an hour daily if you can.
• Eat a health diet, rich in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, fish oils and low fat proteins.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Drink in moderation.

Ladies, we are in control of our destinies when it comes to altering how we age in that we can influence certain factors. There are no guarantees. But you can bet that we can change the odds in our favour.

Please, please care for your heart. It matters. A lot.

Monday A-Musings…It’s a pillow. No. It’s Chillow!

Posted by Liz on Dec 20, 2010 in hot flash | 2 comments

Looking for the Big Sleep?

Posted by Liz on Aug 27, 2010 in menopause, sleep disturbance | 0 comments

Those of you who are going through hormonal shifts, night sweats or hot flashes knows exactly what I’m talking about. Sleep. Sleep, the elusive gold ring that plagues many of us going through the transition. How many sheep have you counted this evening? Or last night? Or last week? Heck, I’m ready to start my own version of Farmville. Any takers?

Experts say that as many as 63% of postmenopausal women have insomnia. Frankly, I’m tired.

So, before you let another sleepless, toss and turn type of night go by, you might want to pay attention: isoflavones may just take away the awakenings that go bump in the your night. Say what?! Mind you, this is a very small study, enlisting only 38 menopausal women. However, I can dare to dream (or think about dreaming), can’t I? Participants were selected on the basis of their sleep complaints, meaning that they had to have difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or constantly experience nonrestorative, insufficient sleep to avoid fatigue and lack of alertness during the day.  They were given a lecture about sleep hygiene, menopausal symptoms and general healthcare and then had a general checkup, after which time, they were asked to take an 80 mg soy isoflavone (estrogen-like plant compounds tablet (containing mostly of a type of soy isoflavone called genistein) or a sugar tablet daily for four months. Thereafter,  they were assessed for sleeping habits, general complaints and any changes in their condition.

The researchers say that not only did use of isoflavones decrease the frequency of moderate and severe insomnia in the women studied by more than 60%, but they also increased sleep efficiency, that is, the degree of alertness the women felt the day following a night of sleep and their ability to perform everyday activities and feel good while doing it. They attribute  improved sleep patterns to a significant decline in the number and intensity of hot flashes.

There are several unanswered questions left by this information, such as whether or not soy will have this effect on a majority of women (remember, the study was small), how soy might affect lifelong insomniacs who also have menopausal symptoms, and if other soy compounds might provide equal benefits. I’d love to see more on this before drawing any conclusions. However, it’s good to know that eventually, tossing and turning might be a thing of the past.

Want more information on sleep and menopause? Check out these posts and please, share your experiences as well!