How to Prevent Hot Flashes
Perimenopause and menopause are inevitable phases of life for women. They are part of the aging process and can include many uncomfortable symptoms that disrupt daily life and impact personal relationships.
Identifying Common Symptoms and Signs:
Perimenopause
- Hot Flashes
- Breast Tenderness
- Lower Sex Drive
- Intense or irregular periods that are heavier or lighter
- Increased Heartbeat
Menopause
- Hot Flashes
- Difficulty Sleeping
- Dry skin, eyes, and mouth
- Mood Swings
- Irritability
- Vaginal Dryness
If you’re unsure of whether or not you are suffering from a hormone imbalance, take our symptom checker quiz and talk to your doctor. You don’t have to suffer through uncomfortable menopausal symptoms alone. There are behaviors and lifestyle changes that may be able to help, especially with one of the more common, and frustrating, symptoms of perimenopause and menopause — hot flashes.
What are Hot Flashes?
During the menopausal transition, women can experience hot flashes that arise suddenly over the course of multiple years. Normally, nerve centers in the brain regulate internal body temperature, but when sex hormones are out of balance, hot flashes can be common.
The Penn Ovarian Aging Study shows that an estimated 80 percent of American women experience moderate to severe hot flashes. These can include excessive sweating and a rapid heartbeat that may even keep some women up during the night. While some women may experience mild to no symptoms during menopause, those who suffer from more severe symptoms that disrupt their daily lives, can look for relief through the following lifestyle changes.
Receive Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy
Renewed Vitality uses bioidentical hormone replacement therapy in order to ease and correct hormone imbalances, and improve the quality of life during perimenopause and menopause. Bioidentical hormones, which are derived from a plant-based source, are natural and biologically identical to what the human body generates. There are many benefits to using natural bioidentical hormones, including that they are more efficient and processed more easily by the body.
Find relief from hot flashes and menopausal symptoms and receive balance back in your life when you visit Renewed Vitality for bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Schedule your consultation today!
Avoid Trigger Points
Every woman’s transition into menopause is unique, and the triggers that relate to the frequency and severity of hot flashes is no exception. Pay attention to when your hot flashes occur and take note of any common activities that may be related.
Common triggers of hot flashes include warm weather, stress, spicy or hot foods and beverages, caffeine, and alcohol. It can be hard to avoid the triggers entirely, but by being aware of what they are, it can help you prevent or control them more.
Quit Unhealthy Habits
As the new year nears and you begin making a list of resolutions for 2020, set goals to leave your unhealthy habits in the past. Not only will quitting unhealthy habits improve your physical and mental wellbeing, but adopting a healthier lifestyle can also show improvements to menopausal symptoms.
Smoking cigarettes is very detrimental to your physical health, and the habit has also been found to be linked to the intensity and frequency of menopausal symptoms and hot flashes. While quitting may be easier said than done, staying active when you anticipate a craving coming on can help curb cravings and keep your mind occupied.
Exercising daily, practicing relaxation techniques, and eating a well-balanced diet are other healthy lifestyle changes that can help you manage hot flashes. Studies have found that an unhealthy body weight may increase the intensity and frequency of hot flashes. We offer a Serotonin-Plus Weight Loss Program that combines diet, behavioral changes and medication to boost your metabolism, ignite your energy and curb cravings.
Find Your Balance
If your menopausal hot flashes are frequent, severe, and affecting your daily life, but you can’t find relief in lifestyle changes, schedule an appointment with Renewed Vitality.
Our practitioner, Becky McClure, CRNP, founded Renewed Vitality after she found relief from her menopausal symptoms through bioidentical hormone therapy, when traditional HRT didn’t work for her. She is passionate about helping you feel like yourself again.
Diet is a major part of how our bodies operate. Food is the fuel that we put into the burner, and so it can largely dictate how our bodies grow and respond to the environment, and it can even affect hormone production. While there are several other factors regarding the production of testosterone, the food we eat plays a role. Let’s unpack the causes of lowered testosterone, and what can be done about it.
What Are The Causes Of Low Testosterone?
There can be a wide range of factors when it comes to lowered testosterone production. Over time, production can naturally wane and decrease, or it can be related to pituitary or adrenal gland issues. Diet can also play a part. Some foods provide the nutrients necessary for healthy testosterone production, while others can impede it. Here are some foods you should eat—and some you should avoid—when seeking to boost your testosterone levels.
Food To Boost
Diet doesn’t always return immediate results when it comes to hormone production. Think of it as a way to improve your internal environment so that your body can more easily produce testosterone. Eating foods rich in these nutrients that your body needs to produce testosterone is a better option than just taking supplements because of the overall effect of a healthy diet.
Vitamin D Low-Fat Milk
Vitamin D is a major resource the body needs when it comes to hormone production, specifically testosterone. Milk is an important component of any diet to develop and maintain strong bones and teeth, but with the added benefit of a vitamin D boost, you’re further increasing the benefits.
Zinc Rich Foods
Red meat, beans, and seeds are all excellent sources of zinc. This mineral is important in testosterone production, and when eaten in the right amounts, can provide benefits beyond simply boosting zinc levels. However, eating too much red meat has been linked to serious health risks like raised cholesterol and potential bowel cancer.
Fatty Fish & Fish Oil
Fatty fish—like salmon, sardines, and trout—are full of important omega-3 fatty acids. Fatty acids have been found to have a positive correlation towards improved testicular function, and therefore improved testosterone production. Other benefits include reducing risk factors for heart disease, improved eye health, and even combat depression and anxiety.
Eggs
More specifically, egg yolks. These are great sources of vitamin D as well as other nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and more. While you need to keep an eye on your intake if you have known cholesterol issues, most people can safely incorporate this nutrient rich food without much concern.
What To Avoid
Plastic-Wrapped or Canned Foods
According to a 2013 study, those who worked in environments with lots of BPA had lowered testosterone levels. While the average consumer isn’t exposed to nearly that level of BPA, one article found that a vast majority of men attending a fertility clinic had BPA in urine samples. While reducing your intake of foods prepackaged in this way may not make all of the difference, it can’t hurt, and encourages eating fresher foods.
Highly Processed Foods
Trans fats have been linked to decreased testicular function in men. These kinds of fats are most commonly found in highly processed foods that are also high in extra sugar and sodium. Whenever you look at something that might be an easy-to-grab snack or is extra convenient, take a look at the nutritional label to see what you’re putting into your body.
Alcohol
Before we get ahead of ourselves, this does not mean that alcohol should be avoided at all costs, but drinking in excess can have detrimental effects. In one study, it was found that it had a reversing behavior across genders; men who drank more had lower testosterone, and women who drank more had higher.
How Do You Plan For A Testosterone Rich Diet?
Whenever you set out to correct bodily function with diet, it’s important to discuss this with a hormone specialist or a professional nutritionist. Everyone’s bodies work differently, so talking to a professional about your concerns is the best way to get a baseline for yourself.
In the case of lowered testosterone, diet is a great place to start, but a doctor may have other recommendations. Exercise and hormone replacement therapies can also be incorporated alongside dietary changes to further improve testosterone production.
Throughout pregnancy and for some time after, the body’s hormonal balance and composition shifts. Once the pregnancy ends, many women find their bodies in a state of hormone shock. In addition to all of the fresh duties motherhood brings with it, the body must also adjust to the new normal of postpartum life.
What causes these hormonal imbalances?
While the simple answer is “childbirth,” there’s more specifics going on here. The most common imbalance is that of estrogen and progesterone. These two hormones are incredibly important to the development and continued health of both mother and child during pregnancy as well as after. The reason these fall out of balance is because throughout pregnancy, the placenta produces large amounts of progesterone, and the rest of the body adjusts estrogen production to match.
Once the placenta is delivered, the regular source of progesterone is gone, but the body is still producing far too much estrogen. This is known as estrogen dominance. Symptoms of estrogen dominance include insomnia, mood swings, and difficulty losing weight to name a few. Usually these levels balance out over time, but there are several ways to speed up the process.
How do you combat these imbalances?
Increase Fiber Intake
Increasing fiber intake can go a long way towards cutting down on abundant estrogen in the blood. Fiber binds to estrogen as well as cholesterol, and carries it out of the body. High in fiber foods like lentils and whole wheat pastas are great sources of the fiber your body needs.
Avoid Refined Sugars
Excess carbohydrates and sugars are stored as fat in the body. Bodies that have more stored fat produce more estrogen, which would exacerbate the situation. Instead of eating foods like white bread or most kinds of pasta that contain processed sugars, shoot for some low-carb options. Replace the bread on your sandwich with some crisp lettuce leaves!
Avoid Alcohol and Caffeine
These substances can cause your hormone levels to shift unpredictably, making it difficult to treat any existing hormone imbalance. By interfering with the hormone producing glands like the thyroid, ovaries, and pancreas, these imbalances can become much worse and lead to long term problems.
Increase Vitamin D intake
Vitamin D can potentially lower estrogen levels in the blood. You can raise your vitamin D intake by spending more time in the sun, or adding a supplement to your diet.
Get More Rest
Make sure to schedule in plenty of rest, as lack of sleep can lead to even more problems when it comes to hormonal imbalances. Sleep is a time for our bodies to recover, and without that rest period, the body is more susceptible to future hormone imbalance issues.
Speak with a professional
If your hormone levels are out of sync, it can seem like you are alone, but you’re not. Millions of women experience the same imbalances after pregnancy, and there is help out there. If you’re looking for assistance with your postpartum hormone imbalance, the experts at Renewed Vitality are ready to help! Schedule a consultation today.
Many people experience headaches, and there are a number of reasons for this: stress, diet, physical strain. But did you know that hormone imbalances can cause intense headaches and migraines as well? When your body is used to a certain level of a hormone, too much or too little can result in an adverse reaction.
How do you know?
How can you identify when a headache or migraine is caused by a hormone imbalance? Usually, hormonally induced migraines and pain are found in conjunction with other symptoms. When you notice any number of these symptoms coinciding with frequent headaches, it could be possible that they are hormonally based:
- Difficulty concentrating
- Increased or persistent acne
- Joint pain unrelated to exercise
- Sudden cravings for alcohol, chocolate, or salty foods
- Difficulty coordinating movement
- Lower than average urination
- Constipation
Which Hormones Cause This?
These headaches affect both men and women and thought to be most strongly linked to lowered sex hormones (estrogen for women and testosterone for men). It is possible that other hormones like those produced by the thyroid are also involved in the reactions that result in migraines and headaches.
Because these hormones control blood flow, muscle tension and growth, and the release of chemicals in the brain, it’s easy to see how them being out of balance can lead to pain in the brain.
What Triggers These Migraines And Headaches?
Though hormones can be largely to blame for these episodes, other factors are usually involved as well. Here are some of the most common triggers for these kinds of migraines:
- Flashing lights, or other overstimulation of the senses
- Changes in atmospheric pressure, such as changing seasons or severe weather
- Alcoholic beverages especially those that contain tannins, like red wine
- Drinking too much caffeine or suffering from caffeine withdrawal.
- Simple stress
- Irregular sleep schedules, either too much or too little sleep
- Significant changes in diet and exercise routines
- Excessive salt and intense seasonings
- Extra processed foods such as packaged sausage and deli meat
- Artificial sweeteners like aspartame
What Can You Do?
The common thread between most of these factors is a disruption of the body’s homeostasis, or natural balance. If you find yourself prone to these kinds of headaches, it may be a good idea to look at your own schedule and habits. Most experts recommend drinking plenty of water and attempting to calm yourself to reduce stress and lessen the severity of the migraine or headache. Talking to a doctor is always a good idea when it comes to making a significant change in your lifestyle as it relates to your health.
Hormone replacement therapy could also be effective in curbing migraine headaches. Talk to your doctor or hormone expert to determine if hormone replacement therapy is right for you and your symptoms. It’s important to remember that every person is different, and what might be a normal level of a hormone might not be the same for another person. A doctor or hormone expert can help you identify where your baseline is.
If you suffer from hormone induced migraines or headaches, the experts at Renewed Vitality can help. Contact us today to schedule a consultation.
As our bodies age, some processes slow or change with time. You may notice you have less energy or it’s harder to lose weight as you get older. This is a normal and natural occurrence. This is can largely be due to hormone production within the body slowing down. Women experience a significant drop in specific hormone production through menopause. Do men experience something similar? The answer is yes.
What Is Andropause?
Most men also experience a reduction in the production of hormones, specifically testosterone, as they get older. Known as Andropause, this process is a more gradual decline over many years instead of the more abrupt experience of menopause.
How Is It Different From Menopause?
It also differs from menopause in the way that not everyone experience andropause. Because of this variability, some doctors are hesitant to consider it the male equivalent to menopause. In most cases, andropause is caused by reduced testosterone production. With the wide range of testosterone levels among men, it’s hard to establish a true baseline that says “below this line is andropause.”
Monitor Your Own Levels
That being said, if you notice yourself experiencing a dip in what constitutes normal function for you, it might be a good idea to discuss with your doctor your concerns and potential options going forward. Sometimes symptoms are temporary and unrelated to testosterone production, and a doctor can run some tests to determine their origin.
What Are The Symptoms?
As testosterone levels differ from person to person, the severity of symptoms can vary just as much. More common symptoms include difficulty sleeping, reduced muscle mass, difficulty concentrating, and lowered labido. Other symptoms can range from feelings of depression and decreased motivation to decreased bone density and erectile dysfunction.
As with menopause, men experiencing andropause can be subjected to loss of body hair, hot flashes, and swollen and tender breast tissue.
You’re Not Alone
It is important to remember that while these symptoms can be embarrassing and unpleasant, they’re not unusual and a normal part of aging for many men. Identifying your concerns early with a professional is key to reducing symptoms quickly and maintaining your hormonal balance.
Is There Treatment Available?
Just like with menopause, it is possible to reduce symptoms by making lifestyle changes in diet and exercise. Many doctors may also prescribe medications to combat specific symptoms, such as antidepressants. In many cases, these symptoms can be combated as a whole using hormone replacement therapy.
Consulting A Professional
Working with your hormone professional or doctor can help determine your specific needs and if your symptoms are caused by andropause or by another condition.
Renewed Vitality Can Help
If you are looking into whether hormone replacement therapy might be right for you, Renewed Vitality is here to help. Our trained experts specialize in helping identify the cause of hormonal imbalances and can recommend specific courses of action as well as treatments tailored for your unique situation. Contact us for more information and a consultation today.
Hormones dictate so much of our lives that sometimes, it’s hard to realize what kind of effect they can have on our day to day. They control everything, including our emotions and moods.
If hormones fall into imbalance, then our moods can fluctuate wildly and make day to day functions difficult. It’s important to understand which hormones affect our moods most so that we can address issues when they arise.
Serotonin and Dopamine
Some hormones are directly responsible for regulating moods: serotonin and dopamine. When these hormones are being produced in proper amounts, it’s easier to control moods and regulate thought processes. These are the primary hormones responsible with preventing depression and similar emotional and mood disorders.
Testosterone
Testosterone is also a key hormone when it comes to mood regulation. When your body is lower on testosterone, you can feel physically sluggish, muscle mass and tone diminish, and sex drive lessens.
However, the effects of lowered testosterone go beyond the physical, but also result in emotional issues. These physical effects can also result in anxiety about physical performance, depression as a result of lowered energy, and mood swings.
Estrogen
Estrogen is another hormone that controls and stabilizes moods. When estrogen is out of normal balance, either as a result of having too much or too little, mood swings can occur. These mood swings can vary between active irritability or aggressiveness and sluggish depression. At other times this imbalance results in high levels of anxiety as well.
Though many think of testosterone as primarily male and estrogen as an exclusively female hormone, everyone needs both in varying amounts in order to have healthy and balanced physical and mental functions.
Thyroid Hormones
Thyroid hormones are also key to keeping energy levels high as well as regulating mood. By keeping cells in the brain energized and functioning efficiently, your mood will be positively affected. When these levels are lower, mood will be lower as well.
Looking For Help?
When attempting to track down the exact source of a mood shift, it’s important to remember that no hormones act without interacting with many different parts of the body alongside many other hormones.
Seeking a diagnosis and discussing your concerns with a professional hormone therapist or doctor are both valid avenues to follow when seeking a solution. In many cases hormone therapy can address and reverse these negative effects of hormone imbalance.
If you are looking to talk to someone about a possible hormone imbalance, the experts at Renewed Vitality are here to help!
When it comes to hot flashes, there is a ton of information out there, so it can be difficult to parse out what’s most relevant to you and your experience or the experiences of someone you know. To figure out what are the possible causes of a hot flash, let’s break down what a hot flash actually is.
What Is A Hot Flash?
A hot flash usually consists of a wave of heat, discomfort, sweating, and flushing of the face and skin unrelated to the actual temperature around them. What is not typically known is that hot flashes can focus on different parts of the body—hands, chest, legs, face—or they can affect the whole body if they are quite severe. There are also varying degrees of hot flashes.
You may experience something as minor as a vague tingling and warming of your hands, or as intense as feeling like you’re in a pot of boiling water.
When Do They Start?
Though normally thought of as a menopausal issue, these can occur years before and after menopause occurs. The several years before menopause is called perimenopause. It is during this time the body is beginning to deal with various changes in hormone balance and blood flow among other things.
Once these flashes start, they usually continue through menopause and for some time afterwards. Most people who experience these notice a gradual reduction in severity and frequency over time.
What Causes Hot Flashes?
Over the years, research has indicated that decreased estrogen levels or other hormonal imbalances characteristic of menopause are to blame for these unpleasant waves of heat.
There are also other theories that it may also be caused by changes in circulation in the brain. As bodies age, and hormones that regulate heart rate and blood flow change in balance, this can cause bodily reactions, like hot flashes, to happen.
What Are Likely Triggers?
Though it is difficult to completely prevent hot flashes once they begin, identifying what triggers them can be helpful. Here are some of the most common causes:
Drinking Alcohol
Alcohol dilates blood vessels and can already cause a feeling of warmth to spread across the body. It makes sense that this would increase the chances of a hot flash.
Caffeine
Increased heart rate can affect your ability to regulate your body temperature normally, and raising the likelihood of a flash.
Smoking
Smoking lowers estrogen, and so can increase the frequency of hot flashes.
Decreasing Severity and Occurrences
In addition to avoiding these triggers that can cause more frequent and intense hot flashes, there are some steps you can take to improve your body’s ability to handle these experiences:
Hydrate Well
Having more water in your system is always a great idea for overall health, but especially when dealing with hot flashes. Being more hydrated improves blood flow which is important for temperature regulation.
Control stress
Hot flashes can be caused by stress, but they can also cause stress. It’s a vicious cycle! Using calming techniques to slow your breathing and recognizing that the waves of heat will pass can help calm your mind and body and allow your body to return to its natural balance quicker.
Hormone Replacement Therapy
For many people experiencing hot flashes, carefully directed hormone therapy is a fantastic solution. Through the use of similar or biologically identical hormones, the symptoms and severity of hot flashes can be greatly reduced, as well as the other associated effects of perimenopause and menopause.
Though a serious issue that many women face, it is not insurmountable, nor does it need to be a lonely experience. Seek the advice of your doctor or a hormone specialist if you are experiencing hot flashes.
What Do Hormones Do?
Hormones are chemicals naturally produced to send signals throughout the body. When hormones are working in balance, hormones allow our bodies to function effectively and efficiently. Hormones regulate body temperature, muscle growth, and metabolism among other things.
What Happens When They Aren’t Balanced?
A hormonal imbalance happens when these chemicals are not in proper proportion. When you experience a hormonal imbalance, you may have a variety of different bodily reactions depending on which hormones are out of harmony.
These effects are often closely connected and influence each other. This kind of snowball effect can lump many minor signs and symptoms into one big problem. That’s why it’s important to constantly monitor your own personal health.
Who Else Experiences This?
Countless people experience hormone imbalances at different times in their lives for the same number of reasons. While every situation is unique, that does not mean anyone who experiences an imbalance is alone. Many others are having the same or similar problems, so don’t fret!
Here are some signs and symptoms that might indicate a hormone imbalance. This list is not exhaustive, but can go a long way to helping you identify what your particular concerns may be
The Telltale Signs of Hormone Imbalance
Hot Flashes and Night Sweats
This usually occurs with women experiencing menopause, but can affect women of any age. When signals that are supposed to regulate your body get crossed, it can get quite uncomfortable.
Breast Tenderness
Throughout the menstrual cycle, fluctuating hormones can lead to soreness or tenderness of the breasts.
Increased Hair Growth on Face, Neck, Chest, or Back
When some hormones are not being properly distributed, this can lead to hair loss or even hair growth.
Weight Gain
As stated before, hormones help regulate metabolism as well as other bodily functions. When these regulatory hormones are in short supply or at least are being overpowered by other factors, fluctuations in weight can be the result.
Fatigue
When you find yourself more tired than normal, but unable to get restful sleep, you could be experiencing a hormone imbalance.
Mood Swings
Some hormones are regulators of mood. When combined with other issues usually associated with hormone imbalances can lead to anger, irritability, and feeling of hopelessness.
Monitor Yourself!
As every person functions differently, these can vary from body to body in terms of occurrence and severity. If you notice something that feels out of the ordinary, talk with your doctor about your concerns. Never forget, you are not alone in your situation, and there are treatments available to get your hormones back in order!
