How to Prevent or Manage Those Pesky Night Sweats

You most likely expect to sweat during a hard workout at the gym or a hot day spent at the beach, but you probably don’t think you’ll wake up in the middle of the night soaked in sweat. 

Unfortunately, for women going through menopause, night sweats — or excessive perspiration at night — are very real. Many women have night sweats that are severe enough to disturb their sleep and soak through their clothes and bedding. 

While night sweats aren’t a serious symptom, they can affect your quality of sleep and your well-being as a result. That’s why at Women’s Specialty Care, located in Lake Forest and Grayslake, Illinois, Karen Mass, MD, FACOG, and the rest of our team want to offer more information on why night sweats occur and how to manage and even prevent them as you go through menopause.

Explaining night sweats

Night sweats are hot flashes that occur while you’re sleeping. While sweating because the temperature is too warm at night is normal, night sweats cause you to become drenched in sweat on a regular basis.

Night sweats happen because as your reproductive hormone levels — estrogen and progesterone — start to fluctuate, they cause your body’s temperature to change. This leaves you feeling hot, and your body tries to cool you down by sweating. You may also experience flushed skin and a rapid heartbeat.

How to manage and even prevent night sweats

There are many things you can do on your own to either prevent the onset of night sweats all together or manage them if you do experience them in the middle of the night.

Before you go to bed, here are some things you can do:

• Turn the thermostat down
• Wear moisture-wicking clothes
• Utilize pillows and mattresses with cooling gels
• Keep an ice pack under your pillow
• Avoid common triggers like spicy foods and caffeine before bed

If you do wake up with an attack of night sweats during the night, try out some of these tips:

• Sip on some cool water
• Change your clothes
• Lower the temperature by turning on a fan or opening a window
• Relocate to a different room

You can even make some lifestyle changes like maintaining a healthy weight, eating more soy, exercising daily, and taking supplements such as black cohosh and pine bark. 

If none of these remedies provide enough relief for you to get a quality night’s sleep, come see our team so we can discuss some treatment options for you, such as hormone replacement therapy.

To learn more about how to manage and even prevent night sweats, contact the Women’s Specialty Care team to set up an appointment. You can do this over the phone or online today.