If you are here because you are experiencing hot flushes, or to support someone who is, then keep reading. We know that up to 80% of women in peri-menopause and beyond are affected by them, and they can appear at anytime. Hypnotherapy is one way that you can relieve the unpleasant sensation of hot flushes and interruption to daily life. I will explain how that works later but first lets discuss these pointless and irritating flashes.
What is a hot flush?
The medical name for hot flushes is vasomotor symptoms, it is where body temperature increases, often followed by flushing, feelings of heat in the skin, sweating. Hot flushes usually start in the face, neck and chest but can move down the body. They can be short lived but can happen at any time, when this happens in the night women often find themselves waking up in a hot sweat which is also referred to as night sweats.
What does a hot flash feel like during perimenopause
Hot flashes can be a sudden and overwhelming sensation of bodily heat, sweating and flushing. At the start of perimenopause the sensation may be less severe and last a short period of time, towards the end of perimenopause they can be more frequent and feel more intense and last longer. Many women experience waking up in the night covered in sweat, but not everyone experiences this severity and can just feel warmer than usual.
What Causes Hot Flushes in Peri-menopause
Although no one is certain about what causes hot flushes they do come during peri-menopause and this is a time where the usual levels of hormones start to change. The most common time to experience this is in Peri-menopause with 60% of women experiencing them at the later stage of peri-menopause but they can last into post menopause, with 10% of women experiencing them up to 5 years.
Hormonal Fluctuations:
There is a link with estrogen levels and hot flushes, often managing estrogen levels helps to relief the hot flush symptoms. It’s suggested that it’s the drop in estrogen that causes the hot flash, this is based on your normal levels as opposed the actual level of estrogen you produce. During Peri-menopause the levels increase and then drop often in more extremes and more inconsistently than before. Therefore it could be the big difference from high to low that is triggering the hot flush.
We know that the hypothalamus is involved in regulating body temperature and that in peri-menopause it becomes more sensitive to temperature changes, this means that in an effort to restore balance the hypothalamus increases the blood circulating the skin to remove the heat from the body and cool down again.
Neurotransmitter Imbalance:
Antidepressants or SSRI’s are sometimes prescribed for hot flushes for women who cannot take HRT. There is some evidence that they can help to reduce the severity of hot flushes which is likely to be serotonin involvement in the body’s temperature regulation (you may have hot or cold sensations with anxiety/panic attacks) The reason for low mood in menopause is related to the change in hormones that happens, the role of Oestrogen in the production and effectiveness of serotonin in the brain. When Oestrogen drops then serotonin is also less effective, we can produce this from other chemicals but HRT can often help to manage this. Therefore increase the effectiveness of serotonin, improve body temperature regulation. SSRI isn’t always a preferred option for people due to the side effects, and as it’s unlikely to help with mood improvement it might not be beneficial to use this.
Lifestyle Factors:
When considering the role of lifestyle there is some evidence around diet, exercise, smoking and alcohol which all have an impact of severity of symptoms. Looking culturally women in Japan report less instances of hot flushes compared to western cultures.
If you smoke then giving up will help with all menopause symptoms. Having a healthy and varied diet and regular exercise can also have overall benefits.
Hypnotherapy as a Holistic Approach to Hot Flush Management
As discussed HRT is an effective option for managing hot flushes, with most women finding this helpful in reducing the symptoms. However there are certain conditions which are not compatible with HRT meaning this is no longer an option. While there is ground breaking new medicines being introduced to support this group of women, there is evidence that hypnotherapy can relief hot flushes.
Research carried out by Gary Elkins Ph.D professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University, found that “While hypnotherapy is not widely understood by many people, it can regulate hot flashes and improve sleep by managing how temperatures are perceived and regulated in the brain,” Elkins said “Hypnotherapy is a mind-body therapy, similar to mindfulness and guided imagery, that involves the focus of attention, a relaxed state and therapeutic suggestions.” Elkins’ research on hot flashes and sleep and hypnotherapy has been clinically shown to reduce hot flashes by up to 80%, more effective than any other hot flash management tool available, with the exception of HRT.
Further research in post-menopausal women in a randomised clinical control study found that those who used hypnotherapy had a mean reduction in frequency of hot flushes of 56% vs the control group with no hypnotherapy intervention of 12%.
How Hypnotherapy Works for Hot Flushes:
Hypnotherapy for hot flushes involves using self-hypnosis to guide your imagination to imagine certain situations, including increasing your body temperature voluntarily and then bringing it down using temperature dials, using cooling imagery to control the effect of the increase in body temperature.
How can hypnotherapy help with peri-menopause symptoms
While HRT is the best option for a lot of symptoms it cannot support with weight gain, joint pain, brain fog. It is not always suitable for certain conditions making it unavailable for some women. For these groups lifestyle changes can have a positive impact, such as stopping smoking, exercise and diet. Hypnotherapy can be an excellent tool to encourage these lifestyle changes and in turn support you in peri-menopause and beyond.
Hypnotherapy is also effective at pain management, focus and concentration and sleep quality, all things which are potentially worsened in peri-menopause.
What to expect during a session
We will discuss the symptoms initially to see if hypnotherapy can also support other issues such as joint pain, low mood, brain fog, lifestyle choices.
We will create a treatment plan based on what you want to achieve by coming to sessions. During these sessions either in person in Stamford, Lincolnshire, or Online nationwide, we will focus on visualisation techniques, self-hypnosis, creating preferred outcomes, dealing with low mood, increasing serotonin, having achievable goals.
Get in touch with Emma today to discuss how hypnotherapy can support you with hot flashes or other symptoms of peri-menopause.
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