Hot flashes

A hot flash is a sudden feeling of warmth in the upper body. It most often affects the face, neck and chest. A hot flash also can cause sweating. Some people might feel chilled after a hot flash because of loss of body heat.

Night sweats are hot flashes that happen at night. They can disturb sleep.

The time when is when menstrual periods get less regular and then stop, called menopause, is the most common cause of hot flashes. And hot flashes are the most common symptom of this change of life.

There are treatments for hot flashes that cause bother and make you uncomfortable.

A hot flash might involve:

• A sudden feeling of warmth spreading through the chest, neck and face.
• Skin that looks flushed and blotchy.
• Fast heartbeat.
• Sweating, mostly on the upper body.
• Feeling chilled as the hot flash lets up.
• Feelings of not being at ease, called anxiety.

How often hot flashes happen differs from person to person. But most people who have hot flashes have them daily. One hot flash may last 1 to 5 minutes.

On average, people who have hot flashes have them for more than seven years. Some people have them for more than 10 years.

Hot flashes may be mild. Or they can be so strong that they disrupt daily activities. They happen at any time of day or night. Nighttime hot flashes, also called night sweats, may wake you from sleep and can cause long-term sleep loss.

If hot flashes affect your daily activities or your sleep, talk to your healthcare professional about treatments.

Changing hormone levels before, during and after menopause are the most common causes of hot flashes. It's not clear how hormonal changes cause hot flashes.

But most research suggests that hot flashes happen when lower estrogen levels cause the body's heat manager, also called the hypothalamus, to respond to slight changes in body temperature. When the hypothalamus thinks the body is too warm, it starts a chain of events in the form of a hot flash to cool down.

Rarely, something other than menopause causes hot flashes and nights sweats. Other causes may include medicine side effects, problems with the thyroid, some cancers and side effects of cancer treatment.

Not all people who go through the change of life have hot flashes. Factors that may raise the risk of having them include:

• Smoking. People who smoke are more likely to get hot flashes.
• Being obese. A high body mass index, also called BMI, is linked with having more hot flashes.
• Race. More Black people report having hot flashes during menopause than do people of other races. Asian people report hot flashes the least often.

Hot flashes may affect daily activities and quality of life. Nighttime hot flashes, also called night sweats, can wake you from sleep. Over time, this can cause long-term sleep loss.

Research suggests that people who have hot flashes may have a higher risk of heart disease and greater bone loss than people who don't have hot flashes.