Bed tech offers hot flash mode for menopausal women sweating through sleep

Don’t sweat it.More than 8 in 10 women get hot flashes during menopause.About a third of them get more than 10 hot flashes a day.For some, these episodes can be incredibly disruptive to daily life — especially when they happen at night, disturbing sleep.

Over time, that lack of rest can introduce problems like anxiety, irritability and difficulty focusing.If The Change has you sweating through your sheets and blasting the AC just isn’t cutting it, one high-tech bedding brand promises to have the answer: just enable “hot flash mode.”Hot flashes start for most women in their mid-to-late 40s during perimenopause, a phase just before menopause during which the ovaries start to produce less estrogen.Most women continue dealing with them for seven to nine years.These vasomotor symptoms come on suddenly with a sensation of intense heat, usually starting in the chest and spreading to the neck and face.

This can cause not only sweating, redness, and a racing heart — but also chills, when the body overcorrects.Hot flashes can last for minutes up to an hour.Experts still don’t entirely understand why it happens, but research suggests decreased estrogen causes the hypothalamus, the body’s thermostat, to become hyper reactive to changes in temperature.The most effective treatment is estrogen therapy, which can have side effects like breast tenderness, bloating and headaches.

With extended use, it carries risks of blood clots, stroke — and in some cases (though much fewer than previously thought), cancer.There are two non-hormonal medications approved by the FDA, as well as options like anti-depressants and anti-seizure medications that can be used to treat hot flashes, though these are less effective.For those who’d rather not go on medication, women can limit triggers that might set off or intensify a hot flash.This can include cutting back on spicy food, caffeine and alcohol.

Some even turn to hypnosis.Otherwise, women are simply left to deal with the ...