N o, ladies,you’re not seeing a typo. I really meant to say the soy of hot flashes, not joy. And furthermore, it has to be soy, because if you’ve ever experienced night sweats or hot flashes with perimenopause, well then, you know – there is no joy.
Outside of the mood swings and erratic, unpredictable cycles, night sweats and hot flashes consistently rank up there as one of the most bothersome symptom of perimenopause for most women. Personally, I would easily rank mine as third only behind the crazy cycles and mood swings.
I’m sure you’ve all heard the stories from our menopause sisters standing outside in snowy, sub-zero weather to take in the “crisp night air” in efforts to cool the internal furnaces that had short-circuited. Heck, maybe even you were one of them.
I know for me, I couldn’t strip off enough clothes to get any relief and often had the rest of my family padding around the house in flannel jammies and woolen slippers while I wore the lightest cotton I could find.
In fact, I distinctly remember my left arm pit leaked perspiration profusely. As if someone had punched holes in my body or something and all the water was leaking out.
No matter what the temperature inside or out; no matter how many or how few clothes I had on; perspiration poured out of my left arm pit in buckets.
I would change clothes several times a day, take cold showers and sit under every fan I could find. All to no avail. Finally, I was reduced to keeping tissue stuck under there to absorb it and change it out like a diaper every few hours. So, outside of walking around “nekkid” (a decidedly Southern colloquialism) what’s a gal to do?
According to an article I recently read at About.com, soy, has been shown to be effective against hot flashes and night sweats. (for some ) I can testify ladies, it certainly worked for me. In fact, after experiencing relief from drinking Silk Vanilla Soy Milk three times per day, I decided to put it to a test. I stopped drinking it to see what would happen. Sure enough, those hot flashes and night sweats came back with a vengeance. That was all the convincing I needed and went back to drinking it.
If you are not a fan of soy milk, (and many aren’t) then according to this article at least, you can also try black cohosh , natural progesterone and a bit of exercise as well. It has also been suggested that certain foods and drinks (spicy food and coffee and alcohol, for example) can trigger hot flashes as well.
Personally, I was never able to trace mine to anything specific nor could I ever find any rhyme or reason in them. I just knew I had them (and still do on occasion) and that soy milk definitely worked in getting rid of them.
Medically speaking, it is said that hot flashes are caused by a drop in estrogen. Previous generations of women dealt with this by turning to traditional hormone therapy. Since then, however, more women have become reticent towards HRT due to dangerous side effects and have sought more natural, less risky approaches.
Enter: Soy
Research has shown that soy contains isoflavones, which are a type of phytoestrogen. Phytoestrogens are plant-based substances that act like a weak form of estrogen in the body. It has long been known that Asian women consume a lot of soy and that they have far fewer hot flashes than American women. As a result, American medical researchers have been intrigued by soy and the apparent effect it seems to have on hot flashes.
There are skeptics of course and that would be because not everyone experiences relief from hot flashes with soy. But, the upside is, it can’t hurt you to try it. If you’re not too fond of soy milk in particular, there is always roasted soy nuts that you can keep around for a snack or to graze on during your day. I often did this in addition to drinking the milk three times a day. And if you’re inner flower-child-hippie still lives, then pad on over in your Birkenstocks to the tofu section. In fact, tofu, milk, tempeh and miso are the richest source of the hot-flash taming isoflavones around.
As I’ve often said around here girls, there are no magic bullets. What works well for one, may work only marginally, at best, for another. But, if your tortured with night sweats and hot flashes and haven’t been able to find any relief yet – give soy a try. It just might be what the doctor ordered.
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N o, ladies,you’re not seeing a typo. I really meant to say the soy of hot flashes, not joy. And furthermore, it has to be soy, because if you’ve ever experienced night sweats or hot flashes with perimenopause, well then, you know – there is no joy.
Outside of the mood swings and erratic, unpredictable cycles, night sweats and hot flashes consistently rank up there as one of the most bothersome symptom of perimenopause for most women. Personally, I would easily rank mine as third only behind the crazy cycles and mood swings.
I’m sure you’ve all heard the stories from our menopause sisters standing outside in snowy, sub-zero weather to take in the “crisp night air” in efforts to cool the internal furnaces that had short-circuited. Heck, maybe even you were one of them.
In fact, I distinctly remember my left arm pit leaked perspiration profusely. As if someone had punched holes in my body or something and all the water was leaking out.
No matter what the temperature inside or out; no matter how many or how few clothes I had on; perspiration poured out of my left arm pit in buckets.
I would change clothes several times a day, take cold showers and sit under every fan I could find. All to no avail. Finally, I was reduced to keeping tissue stuck under there to absorb it and change it out like a diaper every few hours. So, outside of walking around “nekkid” (a decidedly Southern colloquialism) what’s a gal to do?
According to an article I recently read at About.com, soy, has been shown to be effective against hot flashes and night sweats. (for some ) I can testify ladies, it certainly worked for me. In fact, after experiencing relief from drinking Silk Vanilla Soy Milk three times per day, I decided to put it to a test. I stopped drinking it to see what would happen. Sure enough, those hot flashes and night sweats came back with a vengeance. That was all the convincing I needed and went back to drinking it.
If you are not a fan of soy milk, (and many aren’t) then according to this article at least, you can also try black cohosh , natural progesterone and a bit of exercise as well. It has also been suggested that certain foods and drinks (spicy food and coffee and alcohol, for example) can trigger hot flashes as well.
Personally, I was never able to trace mine to anything specific nor could I ever find any rhyme or reason in them. I just knew I had them (and still do on occasion) and that soy milk definitely worked in getting rid of them.
Medically speaking, it is said that hot flashes are caused by a drop in estrogen. Previous generations of women dealt with this by turning to traditional hormone therapy. Since then, however, more women have become reticent towards HRT due to dangerous side effects and have sought more natural, less risky approaches.
Enter: Soy
Research has shown that soy contains isoflavones, which are a type of phytoestrogen. Phytoestrogens are plant-based substances that act like a weak form of estrogen in the body. It has long been known that Asian women consume a lot of soy and that they have far fewer hot flashes than American women. As a result, American medical researchers have been intrigued by soy and the apparent effect it seems to have on hot flashes.
There are skeptics of course and that would be because not everyone experiences relief from hot flashes with soy. But, the upside is, it can’t hurt you to try it. If you’re not too fond of soy milk in particular, there is always roasted soy nuts that you can keep around for a snack or to graze on during your day. I often did this in addition to drinking the milk three times a day. And if you’re inner flower-child-hippie still lives, then pad on over in your Birkenstocks to the tofu section. In fact, tofu, milk, tempeh and miso are the richest source of the hot-flash taming isoflavones around.
As I’ve often said around here girls, there are no magic bullets. What works well for one, may work only marginally, at best, for another. But, if your tortured with night sweats and hot flashes and haven’t been able to find any relief yet – give soy a try. It just might be what the doctor ordered.
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