Latest / Joyful Menopause / Episode 8: ecoding Hot Flashes: The Stress Connection and Solutions That Work

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Episode 8: ecoding Hot Flashes: The Stress Connection and Solutions That Work · Joyful Menopause

• 0:00
  Imagine you are sitting in a meeting trying to focus on the discussion when a sudden wave of heat engulfs you.
• 0:07
  It starts deep in your chest and surges upward to your face, leaving your skin flushed and damp with sweat.
• 0:13
  Your heart races as though you've just sprinted a mile, and you feel a creeping sense of discomfort as beads of sweat gather at your temples.
• 0:22
  And then you realize you're having a hot flash.
• 0:25
  Welcome to Joyful Menopause, the show that helps women in perimenopause and menopause navigate this transformative time with clarity, confidence, and care.
• 0:34
  I'm Lynda Enright, a functional nutritionist with 25 years experience helping women achieve vibrant health.
• 0:40
  Today, we're diving into a topic that affects so many women.
• 0:43
  hot flashes, but more importantly, we'll explore what's behind them, your body's stress response, and most critically, what you can do to reduce their impact.
• 0:53
  And before we wrap up today, I will tell you about my client Dawn, who has seen significant improvements in her hot flashes that were driving her a bit crazy.
• 1:01
  So grab a cup of tea and let's get started.
• 1:04
  Menopause doesn't have to feel like you are living in someone else's body.
• 1:08
  Your host, Linda Enright, has spent the last 25 years helping women to thrive in midlife.
• 1:13
  Here you'll find science based practical advice that you can start using today to get real results for your health.
• 1:19
  Welcome to Joyful Menopause.
• 1:23
  Today we are talking about stress and hot flashes.
• 1:27
  So many women are experiencing hot flashes among other symptoms of menopause and are just being told that it's menopause and there's nothing you can do about it.
• 1:35
  Or sometimes put on medications that can unfortunately lead to other negative side effects.
• 1:41
  But I know there's a better way because I see this challenge every day in my practice and I see women getting better results.
• 1:48
  So first of all, I want to help understand what hot flashes are.
• 1:51
  They're not just random.
• 1:52
  They're closely tied to changes in your hormones and how those hormones affect your nervous system.
• 1:59
  Specifically, the sympathetic nervous system plays a significant role.
• 2:03
  That's the fight, flight, or freeze system, which you've probably heard of.
• 2:07
  This system controls your body's stress response.
• 2:10
  And during perimenopause and menopause, it can become overly reactive.
• 2:15
  I've talked about hot flashes before, and I will again, as they're one of the most common symptoms women experience during these years.
• 2:22
  They feel like that sudden wave of heat, often accompanied by sweating or redness or rapid heartbeat.
• 2:29
  And today I want to talk about what's really happening in your body during a hot flash and how your body's stress response is involved.
• 2:36
  As we age, levels of estrogen begin to decline.
• 2:40
  Estrogen is a key hormone in regulating many different systems in your body.
• 2:44
  Estrogen protects your blood vessels, keeping them more flexible, reducing your risk for high blood pressure and heart issues.
• 2:51
  Estrogen also helps to regulate the balance between the sympathetic, the fight, flight, or freeze system, and the parasympathetic, which is the rest and digest nervous system.
• 3:00
  When estrogen drops, this balance can get disrupted.
• 3:03
  leading to increased sensitivity in the stress response.
• 3:07
  Research shows that women with lower heart rate variability, which is a measure of your body's ability to adapt to stress, are more likely to experience frequent hot flashes.
• 3:18
  If your body is stuck in sort of a high alert mode, it becomes harder to regulate temperature.
• 3:24
  leading to those sudden waves of heat It is so common today that so many women are living in that high alert mode.
• 3:31
  Throughout evolution, we would be in high alert to stay alive, to run from the lion.
• 3:35
  But today, think about all the things that may put you there, sitting in traffic when you're late for a meeting.
• 3:41
  A stressful call from your boss.
• 3:43
  A family member may be making your life more difficult, or an aging parent who needs your support.
• 3:48
  It's pretty common for women through these years of midlife.
• 3:52
  And really, I think for most people in our world today, it's common to be living in an almost constant state of high alert.
• 3:58
  or living in your sympathetic nervous system much more of the time than our bodies were really designed for.
• 4:05
  Today we're talking about stress and hot flashes and I want to help you see what is going on with your body to create this disruption making you feel like you're burning up.
• 4:15
  Stress isn't just emotional, it's physical too.
• 4:17
  When your body experiences chronic stress, your HPA axis gets dysregulated.
• 4:23
  Your HPA axis is a system of organs that controls your stress response.
• 4:28
  So chronic stress upsets the system that regulates stress and then it can lead to persistent high cortisol levels.
• 4:35
  You can see how this can become a vicious cycle.
• 4:37
  Over time, these high cortisol levels can lead to weight gain, high blood sugar, muscle weakness, anxiety, and digestive issues.
• 4:45
  And these changes can trigger an immune response that will promote inflammation throughout your body.
• 4:50
  Chronic inflammation can impair blood vessel function and exacerbate the frequency and intensity of hot flashes.
• 4:57
  It's a systemic issue that underscores why managing stress and reducing inflammation are crucial during this phase of life.
• 5:05
  It's not simply that you need a colder home or lighter clothes, that can be helpful, but inflammation is making it harder for your body to cool down, again, exacerbating the frequency and intensity of hot flashes.
• 5:17
  So that's why an anti inflammatory diet and lifestyle are so critical during this phase of life.
• 5:22
  What can you do about it?
• 5:24
  In just a moment, I have four things that you can do with your diet and lifestyle to help reduce your hot flashes.
• 5:29
  But first, today, we're talking about perimenopause, stress, and hot flashes, what's going on in your body, and now we're going to get into what you can do about it.
• 5:39
  The first is simply to create excellent nourishment in your body.
• 5:43
  The first of the food choices is to choose foods that are building blocks for nitric oxide.
• 5:49
  Nitric oxide helps relax blood vessels and improve circulation, so it reduces vasoconstriction, that closing up of your blood vessels, that's linked to hot flashes and stress.
• 5:59
  Foods that are excellent sources are beets, arugula, and watercress.
• 6:03
  Beets help to promote blood flow and support vascular health, helping your body to regulate temperature more effectively.
• 6:10
  Arugula and watercress both are rich in antioxidants that combat oxidative stress and inflammation.
• 6:17
  Some ideas of how to do that.
• 6:18
  You could add arugula to salads.
• 6:21
  Roasted sweets and beets is one of my favorite.
• 6:23
  It's a mixture of sweet potatoes, beets, onions and garlic.
• 6:27
  Watercress has a peppery flavor, and you can add it to soups or sandwiches.
• 6:31
  And next we want to choose foods that are rich in phytoestrogens.
• 6:35
  These foods mimic estrogen's effects in your body, restoring the balance and reducing hot flashes.
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  Ground flax seeds are a great choice because they bind estrogen receptors and they provide omega 3 fats that are also helpful to reduce inflammation.
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  Whole soy foods are rich in isoflavones that help to stabilize hormone fluctuations.
• 6:55
  Chickpeas are also a good source of phytoestrogens and they're rich in B vitamins that are supportive for your nervous system.
• 7:02
  So some ideas of how to use these things.
• 7:04
  You could sprinkle ground flax seeds on yogurt, put it in a smoothie or sprinkle on a mixed dish.
• 7:09
  Chickpeas are great on a salad or in a soup or delicious in hummus.
• 7:14
  And edamame soybeans can be an easy and really tasty snack.
• 7:19
  Next, you can choose foods that are rich in magnesium.
• 7:22
  These are good choices because they help to calm your nervous system.
• 7:25
  They can regulate cortisol levels and improve your sleep.
• 7:28
  Some good magnesium sources include almonds, avocados, and spinach.
• 7:33
  You could snack on almonds, you could add spinach to smoothies, or mix into a salad with arugula too.
• 7:38
  Avocado toast is a great breakfast, and it goes great on salads too.
• 7:42
  The second is to reduce inflammation, because chronic inflammation, as we said, worsens stress and hot flashes.
• 7:48
  We can do a lot to reduce inflammation with food too.
• 7:52
  I recommend focusing on berries, fatty fish, and olive oil, top three things.
• 7:57
  Berries like blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries are rich in vitamin C and polyphenols that help to reduce oxidative stress, which damages your body's cells.
• 8:07
  Fatty fish like salmon, tuna, sardines are rich in omega 3s, which lower inflammation and support brain and heart health.
• 8:16
  And olive oil contains compounds that soothe your nervous system and reduce inflammation.
• 8:22
  Ideas of how to use, again, you could add berries to oatmeal or simply have them as a snack or a side.
• 8:27
  I recommend fatty fish maybe two to three times a week and olive oil is wonderful in salad dressings or I personally love it for dipping a delicious sourdough bread.
• 8:37
  And the third option for reducing inflammation is to include gut friendly foods.
• 8:42
  A healthy gut microbiome reduces inflammation and enhances your body's ability to manage stress.
• 8:48
  Fermented foods are great for your gut because they contain probiotics that are supportive for gut health.
• 8:54
  These might include good quality yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, tempeh, or apple cider vinegar.
• 9:00
  And fiber rich vegetables are great for feeding the good bugs in your gut.
• 9:03
  So every time you eat, I recommend to look at your plate and see if you have one or two servings of vegetables.
• 9:10
  They all add up and are so good for your gut and inflammation.
• 9:13
  The third choice is to manage stress.
• 9:15
  Practicing deep breathing exercises to activate that parasympathetic nervous system, the rest and digest system.
• 9:22
  It can really help to reduce the frequency and intensity of your hot flashes.
• 9:26
  A good goal would be to incorporate mindfulness or meditation into your daily routine.
• 9:31
  Even just five or 10 minutes a day can make a really big difference.
• 9:35
  And lastly, build resilience.
• 9:37
  I talked earlier about this heart rate variability.
• 9:40
  Improving that variability will help to lower your stress and reduce your hot flashes.
• 9:46
  Things you can do engaging in moderate physical activity like a brisk walk, swimming, bike riding.
• 9:52
  They're helpful in so many ways to lower your stress, to improve your heart health.
• 9:57
  to regulate your blood sugars and to manage a healthy weight.
• 10:00
  For our purposes today, they're also very helpful to reduce hot flashes.
• 10:05
  Also, it doesn't hurt to free up space for self care for resilience as well.
• 10:09
  Maybe you can delegate some tasks, maybe you can simplify your life a little bit so you can build these practices into your life.
• 10:15
  Your body will thank you.
• 10:17
  Hot flashes are not just an inconvenience, they're a signal from your body that something is out of balance.
• 10:23
  By understanding the connection between stress, inflammation, and your nervous system, you can take steps to reduce their frequency and severity.
• 10:31
  Before we go, I'd like to tell you about my client Dawn.
• 10:34
  Among other symptoms she was experiencing as she moved into perimenopause, hot flashes were super frustrating for her.
• 10:41
  She felt embarrassed and worried that people at work would notice when she would be sweating.
• 10:45
  She felt old and like her body was not her own anymore, and it was really impacting her mental health.
• 10:50
  too.
• 10:51
  Her friends could understand, of course, what had happened, but she still hated making a big deal out of it.
• 10:56
  But she felt like it was constantly taking a sweater on and off from cold to hot and back all day long.
• 11:02
  Maybe you can relate.
• 11:03
  Dawn had a typical American diet.
• 11:06
  She ate a lot of convenience foods and products that were touted as quote unquote healthy.
• 11:11
  But when I started teaching Dawn about nutrition, we realized that a lot of the things that she was eating were lacking in nutrients and may have been increasing inflammation rather than decreasing it.
• 11:21
  She said she didn't feel like she had a lot of stress.
• 11:23
  She had a good life.
• 11:24
  She enjoyed her job.
• 11:25
  She had a really great family.
• 11:27
  But when we talked more, I found that she spent a lot of time feeling overwhelmed, trying to juggle all the pieces of her life.
• 11:34
  None of it felt bad, but it did feel challenging.
• 11:37
  I worked with Dawn to create an anti inflammatory diet.
• 11:40
  We added more vegetables, which was a great place to start.
• 11:43
  And though her family didn't love fish, we planned for meals that she could have for lunch that would add salmon or tuna into her diet more often.
• 11:50
  And we worked on resilience.
• 11:52
  The food was helping, but then this really helped her to turn the corner.
• 11:56
  Within a short time, she was noticing her hot flashes were getting less intense.
• 11:59
  and then she noticed them decreasing in frequency as well.
• 12:03
  She was so happy to finally feel more like herself again.
• 12:07
  The choices she made didn't create this feeling of overwhelm, but rather simplified her eating in a way that was so much more nourishing, but easy too.
• 12:16
  I want you to know that there are solutions.
• 12:18
  You can feel like yourself again and reduce or eliminate your hot flashes.
• 12:22
  It can be done and it absolutely does not have to be that complicated.
• 12:26
  It is all about creating the balance that's right for your body.
• 12:30
  I know what you desire is to feel like yourself again, and you maybe haven't gotten the answers yet.
• 12:35
  The tips I've given you today are a great place to start, and another good resource for you is my free guide, Five Natural Ways to Reduce Menopause Symptoms.
• 12:44
  You'll find more tips on navigating these years with confidence and clarity.
• 12:48
  The link to get access to this free guide is in the show notes.
• 12:51
  Thank you so much for joining me today.
• 12:53
  Remember, menopause isn't something to fear.
• 12:55
  It's an opportunity to create a healthier, more empowered version of yourself.
• 12:59
  Until next time, take care of yourself and be well.