How Acupuncture Helps with Menopausal Hot Flashes
Your day is going just fine when, suddenly—your whole body starts heating up. First your face and neck turn red. Angry red blotches cover your arms and chest. Your fingers tingle. You’re sweating and shivering at the same time.
Hot flashes are very uncomfortable. In fact, they’re one of the most common complaints among women going through menopause. Some lucky women barely notice them, while others have intense reactions that seriously impair their lifestyle.
What causes hot flashes?
To this day, doctors aren’t sure why menopausal women experience hot flashes. But they do know that the list of triggers is long (and not entirely intuitive). Hot flashes may be triggered by:
- drinking caffeine, alcohol or ice water
- eating spicy foods
- being in a got room
- wearing clothing that’s a bit too tight
- smoking or inhaling cigarette smoke
- feeling stressed or anxious
Knowing what triggers hot flashes is half the battle. Avoiding those triggers will go a long way towards an improved quality of life. The other half is knowing how to treat them—or at least lower their intensity.
Treat hot flashes with acupuncture
The most common treatment for hot flashes is hormone therapy, notorious for its many risks and side effects. Don’t get me wrong—it will help. But it will also introduce all sorts of problems.
Acupuncture, on the other hand, has no side effects. And it has been shown in multiple peer-reviewed studies to effectively reduce the intensity and frequency of hot flashes. These studies have shown that acupuncture can provide relief with as little as one treatment, and that relief can last up to 3 months.
This month, I’ll go over the most recent studies on the effectiveness of acupuncture for hot flashes, and how it affects women with cancer.
