Hot flashes are not just a hormonal problem.
Hot flashes are perhaps the best-known symptom of menopause. Yet many women do not know that a hot flash is much more than a reaction to falling estrogen levels.
If estrogen were the only explanation, all women would experience approximately the same number of hot flashes during menopause. In practice, however, this is not the case. Some women are barely bothered by them, while others are overtaken several times a day or night by sudden heat, sweating, and palpitations.
That difference is no coincidence.
It shows that more is happening than just a hormonal change.
Your hypothalamus: your body's thermostat
Deeper in your brain lies the hypothalamus. This small brain region regulates your body temperature, among other things. You can think of it as your body's thermostat.
Normally, estrogen ensures that this thermostat handles small temperature differences without your body having to react. There is, as it were, a comfortable margin within which your body easily keeps itself in balance.
During the peri- and menopause, estrogen levels drop. As a result, this so-called thermoneutral zone narrows. This means that even a very small rise in your body temperature can be enough to make the hypothalamus think you are overheating.
Your body reacts immediately. The blood vessels dilate, your heart rate quickens, and you start sweating to lose heat. Not because you are actually too hot, but because your brain thinks so.
That is a hot flash.
Why stress plays a bigger role than many women think
However, this is only part of the story.
During menopause, the balance of various neurotransmitters also changes. One of these is noradrenaline. This substance plays an important role in alertness, stress, and the regulation of body temperature.
Chronic stress causes cortisol and adrenaline to remain elevated for extended periods. As a result, the noradrenergic system also becomes more active. The consequence is that the hypothalamus becomes even more sensitive to minor temperature changes.
That explains why many women experience more or more intense hot flashes specifically during busy periods. Not because their estrogen suddenly drops faster, but because their nervous system is constantly in a heightened state of readiness.
Your blood sugar also affects hot flashes.
A factor that is much less known is the influence of your blood sugar.
When your diet consists of many simple sugars and highly processed carbohydrates, larger fluctuations occur in your blood sugar. As soon as your blood sugar drops rapidly, your body interprets this as a form of stress.
To compensate for that drop, the body releases adrenaline and cortisol again.
And precisely these stress hormones activate the same system involved in the onset of hot flashes.
Stable blood sugar therefore does much more than just support your energy levels. It also helps prevent unnecessary activation of your stress system.
That is why every woman reacts differently.
No woman enters menopause with the same body.
One person has lived under high stress for years.
The other person sleeps chronically poorly.
Some women exercise regularly and eat enough protein, while others deal with major blood sugar fluctuations daily.
All these factors influence how sensitively the temperature center in the brain responds.
Therefore, the question is not only how much estrogen you still produce.
The much more interesting question is:
How resilient is your nervous system?
What does this mean for you?
This does not mean that you can completely prevent hot flashes.
Nor does it mean that lifestyle solves menopause.
But it does mean that you have more influence than is often thought.
By supporting your nervous system, keeping your blood sugar stable, eating enough protein, doing regular strength training, and reducing chronic stress, you support systems directly involved in the onset of hot flashes.
That is precisely why, at Victorious Women, I look beyond just hormones.
Because the better you understand what happens in your body, brain, and nervous system, the better you can make choices that suit your body.
And that is where true direction begins.
Do you regularly suffer from hot flashes and wonder why they sometimes seem to get worse?
At Victorious Women, you learn not only that something is changing, but especially why it is happening and what you can do to support your body as best as possible during this phase.
Do you want first access to the Victorious Women Academy?
Sign up for the waiting list via the link below: https://www.victoriouswomen.nl/wachtlijst
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