Hot flashes are often associated with Menopause. However, anyone can experience them, especially now in the peak of the Summer months!
Hot flashes are a sudden heat sensation mostly in the upper portion of the body. The most common locations of heat occur in the chest, low back, neck, and head. Feeling hot or experiencing a full on sweat can occur. Sometimes people feel very thirsty and crave cold beverages. Triggers are hot weather, hot showers, warmer temperature rooms, and emotional stressors.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine hot flashes are due to an imbalance of Yin (the cooling/nourishing aspect) and Yang (the warming/activating aspect) of the body. They are usually from deficient heat or full heat. The most common pattern hot flashes appear with is Kidney Yin deficiency. Other symptoms that could be present are dizziness, tinnitus, flushing face, night sweating, dry skin and hair, and constipation to name a few things.
Acupuncture Points
We love giving you helpful acupuncture points! Here are a few we recommend when you’re experiencing a hot flash. Press these for 2-3 minutes at a time when you’re experiencing symptoms.
- LI 11 (Large intestine 11): To help clear Heat from your body and when you’re having a headache, feeling dizzy, or feeling flushed. You can locate it by bending your arm to look for the end of the crease on the outer side of your bent elbow.
- KID 6 (Kidney 6): This point is great for helping with night sweats. Find it by first locating the tip of your inner ankle bone. Then measure the width of your thumb below it to find a slight groove between two ligaments.
- KID 1 (Kidney 1): Good for headaches and night sweats brought on by menopause. It is located on the sole of the foot, about 1/3 of the way from the base of the second toe and 2/3 of the way up from the bottom of the foot between your second and third metatarsals. You will feel a slight depression when you find the right spot.
Recommended Herbs
If you’re interested in an herbal formula, feel free to ask us at your next appointment about the following. Remember to always check with a certified herbalist before taking any Chinese herbal formulas. All the practitioners at Whitney Green Acupuncture are also certified herbalists!
Chinese herbs and formulas:
Sheng Di Huang
- Clears heat and cools the Blood
- Nourishes Yin, generates fluids, and treats thirst
- Cools Heart fire
Suan Zao Ren
- Nourishes the Heart Blood
- Tonifies Liver Blood
- Astringes sweat
Shan Zhu Yu
- Stabilizes the Kidneys and astringes fluids
- Stops excessive sweating.
- Tonifies Liver and Kidney Yin.
Balance Heat (by Evergreen)
- Treats Menopause symptoms like: hot flashes, night sweating, insomnia, mood swings, emotional irritability
- Nourishes Yin and clears deficient Heat
- Calms the mind
- Stops perspiration
Nourish (by Evergreen)
- Treats Menopause symptoms like: hot flashes, night sweating, temperature regulation
- Nourishes Liver and Kidney Yin
- Controls flare ups of deficient heat rising up
Things to Avoid
There are often changes we can make in our diets that can help with symptoms we are experiencing. Here are a list of foods to avoid or consume in moderation if you’re finding yourself having hot flashes often.
- Hot/spicy foods and greasy foods. These foods increase the body and blood temperature and cause stagnation of dampness in the body from a TCM perspective. Causing more heat symptoms to arise like facial flushing, hot temperature, perspiration.
- Hot drinks and hot food
- Alcohol is an inflammatory substance. Causes inflammation which increases heat symptoms in the body.
- Hot spices like cayenne pepper, cloves, red chili, and sichuan pepper. These herbs and spices are hot in temperature which can cause body temperature to rise.
- Coffee is inflammatory and causes heat in the body.
Other helpful tips and tricks:
- This summer, try including more cooling foods into your diet! Foods like watermelon, mint, fresh fruit, cucumber, apples, seafoods (shellfish, sardines, and salmon), and goji berries are great. All of these have cooling properties in TCM which helps to cool the body, nourish fluids, and calm the mind.
- Breathe by curling your tongue and breathing in through the curled tongue and out through your nose. This helps cool the air coming into the body. It’s similar to how you suck in air through a straw.
- Minty essential oils like peppermint, mint, eucalyptus, lavender. Apply directly on the GB20 acupuncture point, around the nape of your neck and on pulse points on wrist and ankles. Or make a spritz of it with filtered water and spray yourself whenever you feel a hot sensation coming on.
We love treating women throughout any stage of their life and through all the changes that occur. Traditional Chinese Medicine has so many tools that help to aid in creating smooth transitions throughout a woman’s life cycle.