Sweating in the night? Holistic solutions for night sweats

By request, this week we're talking about menopause-related night sweats. The request I had was this:

Q: I don't want to take pills or do hormone stuff but I can't sleep, I toss and turn and wake up sweating. What can I try?

I did some digging and this is what I found.




Lifestyle Changes
1) Avoid stimulants. That's anything with caffeine, such as sodas, coffee (ahem) or teas. But stimulants can also be white sugar, alcohol and acidic foods such as pickles and tomatoes.
2) Avoid hot foods. This may seem intuitive, but avoid eating or drinking hot foods in the hours before bed (or if you have daytime hot flashes, avoid hot stuff all the time). Also beware of anything spicy.
3) Related to #2, avoid hot stuff. I'm talking about intense exercise, hot showers or baths, romps with your loved one, stress and unresolved anger. We forget that emotions have a great effect on our bodies and minds, so any heated emotions (anger, lust, greed, fear, etc) can heat the body from the inside out, making it hard to cool down. You could also try keeping your home at a lower temperature (I even have night sweats in that house!)
4) Move. Exercise is great for the body, especially to ensure fluids are moving about the body. While exercise is good, be careful of too much sweating, as this could increase your core temperature. Play around with how exercise helps or hinders your night sweats. You could try exercising in the morning rather than evening, or toning it down a bit.
5) Chill out! (Pun intended). Many believe night sweats to be a byproduct of stress. I would probably include this in any article, but taking time each day to meditate, do mindful yoga, deep breathing, guided imagery or other mind-pacifying activities could help learn to control stress and keep an even keel. Even if you don't think you're stressed, you most likely are. It's the culture we live in.
6) Add flax to your diet. One study found 40 grams per day to be the recommended serving size. The study had successful results. I recommend buying the whole seeds and a small coffee grinder and grind the seeds. However, this isn't practical for many so buying a pure oil extract or pre-ground flax seeds are good options too. Any natural health store would have flax seeds. I know what you're going to ask: What do I do with it? Flax seeds are tasteless (I think) so sprinkle some over oatmeal, into shakes, or you could do whole seeds on salads. You can really put it on anything.

Herbal or Natural Remedies:
1) Black cohash. I have seen this mentioned in many places and apparently, clinical trials have found it to be helpful in treatment hot flashes, night sweats and symptoms that accompany menopause.
2) Acupuncture. I believe acupuncture is good for just about everything. It won't hurt you, so it's worth a shot.
3) Sage. I knew of the cleansing power of sage, but never heard of it for menopausal symptoms. It appeared in several places and one anecodatal piece said sage was all the woman  needed and it only took a week for her to feel better. She took a capsule once daily. Again, a health food store would carry this.
4) Vitamin E. Studies recommend between 50 and 500 IU taken daily (one study had good results off of 400 IU). You can find capsules at probably any pharmacy or health store since Vitamin E is a common vitamin. Studies found Vitamin E to be helpful against hot flashes.
5) Apple cider vinegar. Seriously what doesn't this stuff do! Go to your health food store again to get this stuff, rather than the typical supermarket stuff. You want organic and make sure it's unfiltered or unprocessed. It will probably be cloudy in the jar - don't worry, that's normal. It looks like 2 tablespoons in the morning and at night are the recommended dosage. Again, this stuff won't hurt you (unless you're allergic to apple or can't handle fermented stuff) so try it and see. You will probably not like the taste, so you can "chase" it with food or drink lots of water to dilute it.

There you have it. Six lifestyle things to consider and five different natural options, one requiring a practitioner and four simple supplements/vitamins to add to your daily routine.  This is a new topic for me so I'm interested in hearing what has worked for others. Do not feel shame about your night sweats, let's talk about it!

Natural vs. Lifestyle Changes

Today I was writing a story on sleep apnea and was looking for some "holistic" treatment options. I learned an important lesson here. The term holisstic is a fuzzy word. Yes, I knew this, but sometimes I think I have a narrow view of what fits there. What I discovered was that there are very few holistic therapies for sleep apnea. But I was very wrong. Once I thought about it more, most of the treatment options are holsitic in nature; I was just seeing them as traditional, and thus, not holistic.

Let me explain. One treatment option is to learn how to sleep on your side. This helps with the collapsing or obstruction in the airways. Since this is a normal intervention, mentioned by hospitals, physicians and associations with a more biomedical focus, in my mind, it wasn't holistic. Oh but it is! An alternative that isn't harmful and isn't ignoring the problem - this is one of the definitions of holistic interventions!

What I think ended up being most important in this process for me was remembering how wide the holistic net is, and how differently it is interpreted by different people. There are quite a few options for sleep apnea, and most importantly, many of them are lifestyle changes, which are holistic in nature. Rather than being in the holistic camp and scoffing at mainstream medicine (I'm working on that), I am beginning to see the interconnectedness. This is true integrative medicine. It's a beautiful thing, you know, the best of modern medicine when it's really needed and choices when it's not.

This or That? How about both.

During this year's election battle (thank goodness for not having a TV!), I began to think about the dualistic culture we live in. We think we must choose between good and evil, black or white, republican or democrat, gay or straight, yes or no - the list goes on. We all know the phrase that it's not always black or white. In my world, there is no black or white - there are different shades, and different ways of looking at it.

We all have choices, don't forget that, but we also usually have more choices available to us than we think we have.  For example, don't like Romney but don't really like Obama either? Vote green party or liberatarian. Research other options. You also have a choice to not vote (I know, I just said that). I get the impression that culturally, we think there are two candidates and we have to choose. Who is the better of the two evils? But this is dualistic thinking - feeling like there are only two sides to a coin.

Let's make this more about daily life. Soon we'll head downstairs for lunch. This is what will probably happen. I'll open the fridge and say we have leftover cheese soup or wild rice casserole. The fridge is pretty bare. But that's seeing only two options. That is no where near the whole story! I'm missing out on potentially awesome ideas just by thinking in a linear dualistic way. I'll realize this and say, or you could have minestrone soup, or hot coco, or raw veggies or rice and veggies, or pancakes or oatmeal or apples and peanut butter. All of a sudden, the world seems more joyful, more pleasant, more available to me.

Now, I also have to add that psychologically, too many choices are bad for us. We get paralyzed and can't choose. So be careful of the options, but don't limit yourselves.

Sometimes we practice this idea by just naming crazy things. So I'll say, what would you like to do tonight. Then we'll rattle off a list: play a game, clean the house, watch a movie, go to a movie, go to a bar, make coffee, have a drawing contest.....when we run out of "mainstream" ideas, we'll get more silly. Erik will often say something like we could go rob a bank, or take a walk naked, or chop down a tree or go rock climbing, or take a vacation. All just ridiculous, but yet realistically, we could do these things. It helps tap the creativity and promote thinking outside of the box. I also find that it makes us laugh and promotes a sense of unity and playfulness.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

The New Kid in Class

Luckily, throughout my life, I haven't been "the new kid" all that often. As an adult, however, I find that being the new kid is becoming more common. It's funny how sometimes I think about NOT doing things because of the uncertainty (where to park, what to bring, what to wear, etc.). I've noticed that pattern and worked to get past those barriers. I think my introverted nature makes these new situations more scary because it seems like everyone else is always chummy and social, leaving me to my lonesome. This is a hard one to overcome, but noticing it is helpful.

One place I felt very secure before moving was at the yoga studio. I knew all the staff and teachers and many of the fellow students. I usually knew at least 2 people walking around. They knew me. I knew where stuff was, how to set up in the space and to some extent, how the class was going to go. No stress. No uncertainty. Awesome.

Earlier this week, I set out for my first visit to a new studio. I was resistant. I know the protocol of studios, so there was some consistency, like going early to pay and get the run-down. I was the first one there and, like many studios, although the person at the desk knew I was new, I didn't get much by way of assistance.  I stepped into the space and immediately knew I'd have to ask some questions. Which way do I face? How do you set up mats? Do you use props? Where is the bathroom? Oh, the stress of being new!

I've now been there twice and feel better about it. Everyone is really nice and helpful when I ask quesitons and it's been a good practice for me to speak up and ask for what I need. Most of us could probably benefit from more of this.

Until next time, have you done anything recently that was outside your comfort zone or have you been the new kid in class?

I could’ve sworn it was there!

We’ve all had times when we thought we saw something only to find out it was something completely different. The movies over the years have showed us countless examples of people lost or stuck in the desert thinking they see water, but once they approach the edge, it’s really not water after all. Whenever we drive to the cabin, once nightfall approaches, every mailbox looks like a deer on the side of the road.   

Thinking back, I have countless examples of seeing something, making a lightning-quick assessment of it, labeling it as something and then realizing my assessment was far off the mark. I’ve never really thought about this phenomenon before, but as I was gazing out the window, a stone trash reciptical  looked like it had a vine growing on it. As I was trying to figure out where the vine came from, if it grew up from a crack in the sidewalk or whether it was potted inside the vessel and flowing over the edge, I realized there was no vine; it was just a stone trash can. But my mind was able to create a whole story and assessment based on something I thought I saw. It was all a figment of my imagination.

How powerful this is to consider how much impact these figments have on our lives. We think someone is doing something for one reason or another, we feel attacked by someone’s words, we hear someone say our name, or we let our minds run crazy with stories that have nothing to do with anything. We wrongly accuse people for things we think we saw them do or not do. We end relationships and cause family rifts because of something we think we saw or heard. I could go on and on.

The point is, what impact do figments of our imaginations have on life? Are they harmful? Are they imaginative, creative and helpful? Or are they neutral and not matter at all?

I don’t know the answers. I just know that paying attention, learning to see things before judging them or assessing them and always being curious, we can learn to see when these figments occur and act accordingly (whatever that means).

Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop

There is just something about coffee shops. I can’t explain it. I don’t even have a desire to explain it. I just love the feel of them. The smell. The people. The music. The environment. The culture. Coffee shops are unique – and not all have that same feeling. As I sit here gazing out the window, buses, cars and people are strolling by as if they are in some outside world. Inside the coffee shop, it’s like the world stands still. Only this coffee shop exists – just me and my computer and my tea. Tonight I’m drinking tea. I’m writing. Time, place and circumstance aren’t relevant. They have no place here. When I’m here, nothing is relevant. Nothing matters, nothing stays the same, everything must change. The doors will close and I will go home, richer because of it.

Sounds a bit like meditation, doesn’t it.

Isn’t that interesting.

The making of a gift.

A dear friend of mine recently married. I made them a card and it ended up to be an incredibly healing activity.

Some time ago, I decided that buying cards was silly since I could make them. I should add, I haven’t yet tapped into my creative potential and struggle with arts and crafts projects. But I decided making cards was a good way for me to be creative, while still having a purpose to keep me focused. My first cards were awful. Sometimes I’d laugh as I sent them because they were ridiculously childish, but handmade and made with love.

 

The fun part about making cards for people is the opportunity to truly make them unique and special for the recipient. For this particular wedding, I knew the couple, I knew some of the themes of the wedding and I felt inspired. As I made the card, I worked in silence and was able to reflect on their relationship and the stories I’d heard when they first met, started dating, got engaged and most recently, wedding planning and moving in together. I was able to think about my emotions and question any insights that arose. I worked and I thought and I worked some more. In the end, it was by far the best card I’ve ever made. It was pretty and legitimate looking. The whole card fit together and made sense. I was able to find fun materials that were representative of my friend, and used colors that were part of the wedding. It meant something to me. I’m not sure if it meant anything to them, if they even know it was handmade or if they thought it was well-made. None of that matters. I was proud to write in that card. I loved taking the time to reflect and write words that were meaningful to me. And most of all, I enjoyed taking the time to make something for a friend. I think the world needs a little more of that.