Night sweats are disruptive to sleep. Sleep is foundational to a balanced mood, is related to metabolism and gives us the energy we need to get daily tasks done.
In this short video (3:08), Dr. Marcie Richardson, an ob-gyn and the Director of a Boston-based Menopause Clinic shares advice on remedies for night sweats — things you can try to minimize their effects and she discusses over the counter and prescription hormonal remedies as well. She explains how some remedies work for some women, so you might need to try a few things to see what works for you. Full transcript below.
Transcript
Welcome to Interviews with experts, today we share a clip from our interview with Dr. Marcie Richardson, an Obstetrician/Gynecologist. Dr. Richardson is also the Director of The Menopause Center at Atrius Health and an Assistant Clinical Professor, Harvard Medical School.
Remedies for Night Sweats
In this clip, Dr. Richardson discusses things you can try for night sweats, She also talks about over the counter and prescription remedies.
There is this sort of step-wise approach. Step one is to identify your triggers. To dress in layers. To sleep in a cool room. I suggest people put a glass of cool water by their bed. They put an ice pack under their pillow at night so that when they wake up they can turn their pillow over and it can be cool. There are a ton of wicking sheets that you can buy. Or there is actually some pajamas that are good at wicking sweat away from night sweats.
What about over the counter remedies?
If you go into your local pharmacy, there are a ton of products to treat hot flashes and night sweats. I’m not sure if any of them work. Black cohosh is one people have been talking about for years. And I think that probably black cohosh works some part of the time. Part of the problem is that it’s very dependent on what kind of soil it was raised in. So there’s not necessarily a ton of consistency. There are some other products out there that work.
One of the big problems when you think about night sweats, there have been hundreds of studies of different agents and all of them have about a 30% placebo effect. So what a placebo effect is that if you give one group of women a drug and another group of women a sugar pill. The women who get the sugar pill experience an effect. They experience that the sugar pill works. And in treating vasomotor symptoms, there is a 30% placebo effect in almost everything. So anything you try has a 30% chance of working.
What about hormonal remedies for night sweats?
That said, the most effective thing to treat vasomotor symptoms is hormones. That’s just the facts. There are a bunch of other things that people have tried and some of them have been proven to be effective.
I’m somebody that really believes strongly that women really need individualized care for their symptoms during this transition. You can’t say there is something that works for everyone. You need to talk to somebody that knows what the options are and can address your individual particular concerns.
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More on Remedies for Night Sweats
More on night sweats, here.
New Research: A Link Between Vasomotor Symptoms and Heart Health
Vasomotor symptoms is the collective term used to describe night sweats and hot flashes. Recent research has uncovered a link between frequently occurring vasomotor symptoms. There is still much that isn’t known yet and research continues to more fully understand this linkage. If you are having frequent vasomotor symptoms you should be sure to discuss with a healthcare provider and ramp up your heart-healthy behaviors.
Here is a recent study by Dr. Rebecca Thurston from the University of Pittsburgh for those that want to delve deep. And here is an article from CNN about that study. A few summary quotes for those that don’t have time to read the whole thing
“How I conservatively conceptualize this work right now,” Thurston said, “is to consider hot flashes as telling you something about your underlying vascular health.
“At a minimum, it’s a marker. If you’re having lots of hot flashes, now is the time to engage in all those things you should be doing to take care of your cardiovascular health at midlife.”
That means if you smoke, stop. Get high cholesterol under control. Take care of any high blood pressure with appropriate medication. Keep your weight in check to avoid diabetes. Exercise regularly. And eat a healthy well-balanced diet.
