Hot Flash Toolkit
Updated: May 17, 2023
When you look up research on hot flashes, it’s a lot less extensive than it should be. But one thing that is clear… hot flashes are closely linked with stress.
You know it too when you really pay attention. When the heat spreads up to your face and you start feeling uncomfortable, it’s almost always a stray thought, frustration bad dream, or embarrassment that triggers it.
But there are many forms of stress and also many ways we can soothe our nervous system and support our adrenals during menopause. You see, starting in perimenopause, you’ll notice you don’t handle stress like you used to. For those of us accustomed to really crushing long days, and recovering with one good sleep day after day… it’s time to pay the piper. We just can’t keep that up without putting something extra in the bank.
How can I stop hot flashes naturally?
The answer is probably somewhere in the stress department. But I’ll break it down into some low-hanging fruit that you can DIY, and then a few more advanced things if they don’t work.
Manage stress to ease symptoms
See, once you get into the perimenopausal range, your adrenals are shouldering more of the burden for all of your hormone production. The adrenal glands sit on top of your kidneys and produce stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine (aka adrenaline and noradrenaline). You know, a little stress is good for us, but it’s the chronic stress that buries us in burnout and hot flashes. So we need to learn how to toggle out of the sympathetic/stress mode and into the parasympathetic/”rest and digest” mode.
We could write an entire book on how to manage stress, so I’ll just touch on this. Stress is the hardest thing to change because, by this time, our nervous systems and patterns of thinking and behaving can feel hard-wired. But know that it is all subject to change.
Retraining our nervous system is something that CAN be done. Some people use methods like limbic system retraining, neurofeedback, hypnotherapy, psychedelics, tapping, and more. They are all valid methods but are beyond the scope of this article. Let’s focus on some more DIY approaches.
Balance blood sugar
Optimize sleep
Schedule a ‘reset” in the afternoon between work and dinnertime
Take frequent “no smoke” breaks
Practice meditation or mindful movement like tai chi
Do breathing exercises
Reduce excess “cardio” workouts and emphasize walking and strength training
Balance blood sugar
It’s not the magic bullet for everyone, but when it’s a hot mess, so are your hormones.
Just last week, I was talking to a few people who had taken my “Hack Your Blood Sugar Using a CGM” program and one of them said, I just realized that I haven’t been having hot flashes since I evened out my blood sugar!”
This is connected to stress. For some people with really yo-yo blood sugar, those extremes are just another form of stress in the body. This particular woman was eating too much sugar and refined carbs than her body could handle. Once she corrected that and evened out her blood sugar, her stress levels also reduced.
So if your blood sugar graph looks more like the Swiss Alps rather than the rolling hills of England, addressing blood sugar could be a piece of the puzzle for you.
Some signs that you might have issues with blood sugar dysregulation include feeling “hangry”, frequent snacking, headaches, anxiety, shakiness, and frequent mood swings.
If this is an area that you need to work on, I’m your woman! Let me hook you up with a home-study course or set you up with a continuous glucose monitor to help you hack your blood sugar.
“Some signs that you might have issues with blood sugar dysregulation include feeling “hangry”, frequent snacking, headaches, anxiety, shakiness and frequent mood swings.”
We make balancing blood sugar FUN!
Why not put this clever little device on your arm for 4 weeks so you can stop guessing what works and get 24/7, real-time data about how food, sleep, stress and exercise is impacting your blood sugar. A continuous glucose monitor (CGM) can cost as little as $80/month and helps you really zero-in on a personalized plan for eating that helps you find the mimimum dose of "healthy” needed to reach your goals. Read on to learn more how we do it!
Cut back on caffeine
This is also technically under the “reduce stress” category. Too much caffeine can over-tax your adrenals. I know more than one woman who just reduced her caffeine and that’s all it took to stop her heart palpitations and lessen her hot flashes.
First, cut out caffeine after noon or change it to matcha which contains L-threonine and less caffeine. L-threonine helps modulate cortisol levels!
Then cut down to one cup in the morning.
Use adaptogens
This really falls under the category of reducing stress. But I get so many questions about it, I thought I’d give it its own category.
Adaptogens are botanicals (plants) that help our bodies cope with chronic stress. They can include:
Ashwagandha
Holy Basil (Tulsi)
Rhodiola Rosea
Panax ginseng
Euluthro
Astragalus Root
I like to buy my bulk herbs for making chai (and other potions) from Mountain Rose Herbs. They are a great resource for ethically-sourced botanicals.
Supplements: Some of us don’t have the time or interest in all this potion-making. For us, supplements to the rescue! Two of my favorite supplements are Adrenal Response by Innate as a general adaptogen and Cortisol Manager by Integrative Therapeutics when you know evening cortisol levels are high in the evening from chronic stress. You’ll find them both on my Fullscript online dispensary under Catalog/Favorites/Adrenal support.
You can read more about these in a series of articles on adaptogens here.
Make your own golden chai
This recipe allows you to adjust the caffeine content, sugar content, type of milk and even add a slew of adaptogenic herbs. There’s a printable recipe and video tutorial.
More herbal help for hot flashes
I’m not a herbalist, but I know some good ones to point out to you.
Dr. Aviva Romm is a brilliant author of books for women’s health and her latest book, Hormone Intelligence, discusses this. She recommends the following herbs as well:
Black cohosh, Rheum rhaponticum/ER731 (Estrovera by Metagenics), Valerian, motherwort, chaste tree (vitex)
In my Fullscript online dispensary, I like the Estrovera by Metagenics and Menopause Support by Vital Nutrients which you can find under Catalog/Favorites/Menopause.
Use a castor oil pack at night
Castor oil packs are as old skool as it gets. I’ve personally added this to my routine and it has been a valuable addition to my toolbox.
This is one tool where I have personal experience. I’ve been experiencing regular hot flashes for a few years now. Mostly during the day, but sometimes at night. I ordered a new castor oil product that I wanted to try out before recommending it to clients. (I’m a big fan of testing products before I recommend them.) I started using it every night. After a week, I realized I hadn’t been having hot flashes! In fact, it wasn’t until a VERY stressful day that I finally had one. ONE!
Because this is a fantastic carrier oil that gets absorbed through your skin, it is critical to purchase one that is organic and stored in a glass bottle. It can pick up chemicals from plastic bottles and introduce them to your body and the xenoestrogens from plastic are the OPPOSITE of what we need here. Also, this stuff can be MESSY! The product I tried and used also sells an awesome pad with a grease-proof outer layer that manages most of the mess. I find if I use this product for about for week per month (or so), my hot flashes stay away. There are no scientific studies that prove that topical castor oil has any effect on hot flashes, so this is just one person’s experience.
Test, don’t guess
You can blow a LOT of money on supplements trying to alleviate hot flashes, improve sleep, and calm anxiety. (Ask me how I know!) You’re going to get better results if you are approaching your health with good information. That’s where testing comes in. Your doctor might know the kinds of tests to run to evaluate your hormones.
The test I like is a DUTCH. There are a variety of tests, but the basic ones test your levels of sex hormones, how you metabolize them, DHEA, and your cortisol levels throughout the day and evening. The results give you a good idea of how to support your body rather than the scatter-shot approach we often take with supplements. As I mentioned, later on, this can minimize the risks of self-diagnosing, improve your outcome and save you money in the long run. Other labs can run these hormones too.
Don’t rule out HRT
We outlive our hormones these days. Back in the 90’s the results from the Women’s Health Initiative were interpreted in such a way that it was recommended that women stop hormone replacement therapy for fear of cancer and stroke. 🥵🔥 But this recommendation has been updated (thank goodness). The use of hormones, especially bioidenticals, has helped women not only feel better but help them maintain bone density, heart health, and muscle mass, and sleep better. And all that results in better health and longer, more fulfilling lives.
Like anything else, it’s an individual decision and one you should make with your doctor(s). But if you feel the low-hanging fruit recommended here just isn’t cutting it and your quality of life is being negatively impacted by menopause, don’t rule out hormone replacement. But do some testing first to help guide your decisions.
And remember, just because it’s “natural” doesn’t mean that it’s without side effects. The testing recommended can even be helpful before diving into the supplement area. Low and high cortisol can present similarly but require different solutions. I see licorice extract in many adrenal supplements, but licorice is not something to be used long-term in people with high blood pressure. It exerts powerful effects on the adrenal glands. That’s why testing is important.
As women, it’s easy to just let our quality of life slowly ebb away. We can tolerate a lot of discomfort and just carry on. But you don’t have to. Sometimes, these pesky symptoms can be a sign that it’s time to take stock and make some changes that will really benefit not only our day-to-day comfort but also improve our health in important ways.