A shocking 88% of Western women suffering from perimenopause symptoms are more or less tormented by hot flashes. Hot flashes are not life threatening. They just make your life miserable. Suddenly, you’re hot and uncomfortable. You can be soaked in sweat or merely a moist blush. Night sweats wake you up several times a night. The lost sleep and low quality sleep can cause poor concentration, memory problems, irritability and exhaustion during the day.

A hot flash is caused by the body’s temperature control system going berserk. For no good reason, your body-mind thinks it’s overheated. The brain reacts as it normally does to cool down, but more sudden and intense. Blood vessels near the skin dilate and you break into a sweat. The causes of such thermal chaos are only partly understood by medical science. Hot flashes are linked to the fluctuating hormones that cause so many perimenopause symptoms, but other factors such as thyroid imbalances can cause your temperature control to go out of whack.

If you’re concerned about the safety of hormone replacement therapy, there are many time-proven, natural remedies you could try first. Here are some ideas that have helped many women find relief:

The frequency, duration, and intensity of hot flashes and all perimenopause symptoms vary widely from woman to woman and also for individual women during the various stages of menopause. Remember that you are unique and that what works for one woman may not help you. If one strategy doesn’t provide relief, try another and discover what works for you.

Catherine Galeana is a writer and photographer who survived menopause and shares what she learned in the process. Catherine says this about herself, “I was just getting into yoga when I started searching for help with my own perimenopause. And yoga led me to discover a wealth of safe, natural remedies that worked. ” Visit my blog, perimenopause-symptoms. org, to find out more about hot flashes and other perimenopause symptoms, and natural remedies that relieve them.