Don’t sweat it.
More than 8 in 10 women get hot flashes during menopause. About a third of them get more than 10 hot flashes a day.
For some, these episodes can be incredibly disruptive to daily life — especially when they happen at night, disturbing sleep. Over time, that lack of rest can introduce problems like anxiety, irritability and difficulty focusing.
If The Change has you sweating through your sheets and blasting the AC just isn’t cutting it, one high-tech bedding brand promises to have the answer: just enable “hot flash mode.”
Why do hot flashes happen in the first place?
Hot flashes start for most women in their mid-to-late 40s during perimenopause, a phase just before menopause during which the ovaries start to produce less estrogen. Most women continue dealing with them for seven to nine years.
These vasomotor symptoms come on suddenly with a sensation of intense heat, usually starting in the chest and spreading to the neck and face. This can cause not only sweating, redness, and a racing heart — but also chills, when the body overcorrects. Hot flashes can last for minutes up to an hour.
Experts still don’t entirely understand why it happens, but research suggests decreased estrogen causes the hypothalamus, the body’s thermostat, to become hyper reactive to changes in temperature.
Can hot flashes be treated?
The most effective treatment is estrogen therapy, which can have side effects like breast tenderness, bloating and headaches. With extended use, it carries risks of blood clots, stroke — and in some cases (though much fewer than previously thought), cancer.
There are two non-hormonal medications approved by the FDA, as well as options like anti-depressants and anti-seizure medications that can be used to treat hot flashes, though these are less effective.
For those who’d rather not go on medication, women can limit triggers that might set off or intensify a hot flash. This can include cutting back on spicy food, caffeine and alcohol. Some even turn to hypnosis.
Otherwise, women are simply left to deal with the feeling of being hot. That means layering in breathable fabrics, carrying a fan, or using gel-cooled pillows and moisture-wicking bedsheets for night sweats.
Hot flash cooling tech for your bed
Eight Sleep is taking this to the next level, offering a high-tech solution that can be added to your bed for precise temperature control to help you get back to sleep.
The brand’s Pod system has two parts: a hub, which powers the system, and a mattress topper that heats and cools according to your preferences. You can also buy their pillows and blanket for even more temperature control.
People who get hot flashes “need rapid cooling … but then after sweating from the hot flashes and cooling down, it would then make them too cold and they couldn’t fall back asleep,” Nicole Moyen, director of science and clinical research at Eight Sleep, told The Post.
To solve this, Eight Sleep’s “hot flash mode” cools the bed rapidly and waits for a preset time before rewarming the bed to a comfortable temperature.
Moyen says this has benefits for not only menopausal women, but also men undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. Their decreased androgen also causes short hot flashes.
“We have also had reports [saying the pod system] is helping them fight cancer and sleep better during treatment,” she said.
In a study published in May, Eight Sleep’s Pod system was shown to reduce hot flashes by 57% over the course of a week, compared to not using the system. Participants also reported less severe symptoms and better sleep quality overall.
For those sleeping with a partner, the Pod regulates temperature on each side of the bed separately.
“Partners found hot flash mode much less disruptive [compared to] the typical cooling methods women would use [like] turning on a fan, getting wet towels in bed,” Moyen said.
The Pod system runs for $2,999 with a 5-year warranty. Eight Sleep offers a 30-night risk-free trial, as well as free shipping and free returns.
