Hot flashes can make you suddenly drenched in sweat, feeling hot, and sometimes short of breath. For some people, feelings of anxiety and stress may cause hot flashes.
If you are going through perimenopause, you are probably familiar with the symptoms of hot flashes, which feel like a surge of heat that makes you sweat and often makes your heart beat quickly.
Hot flashes can trigger anxiety, but anxiety or panic episodes can also trigger hot flashes if you are perimenopausal.
Knowing more about the link between hot flashes and anxiety can help you to recognize and manage the symptoms in a way that works best for you.
What’s the link?
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If you experience anxiety, your heart rate can increase, which can cause dizziness, stress, and sweatiness. Your body releases certain hormones that increase your circulation as a part of the physiological response to danger and stress.
Hot flashes have the same symptoms, often feeling like a surge of heat that causes you to sweat, feel breathless and dizzy.
There are different types of anxiety disorders, which vary slightly in how they display symptoms. Physical symptoms of anxiety are similar to hot flashes. However, there are other telltale signs that your hot flashes may result from anxiety. These can include:
Anxiety can worsen hot flashes, so learning how to manage anxiety symptoms may help you lessen the severity of hot flashes.
Anxiety can cause hot flashes if you are experiencing menopause because many symptoms of anxiety and menopause result from the same physiological processes, including the release of particular hormones.
Hot flashes often have a link with menopause, but this isn’t always the case. Different thyroid conditions and reactions to medications can also cause hot flashes.
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Menopause begins after you have gone 12 months without menstruating. Typically, you first notice symptoms of menopause 4 years before you stop menstruating, which is perimenopause. If you experience hot flash-like symptoms before the age of 40, it is more likely to be because of anxiety rather than menopause.
Everyone’s experience of menopause is different. Some people notice a wide range of symptoms that may be severe, while others notice none.
Some of the first signs of perimenopause include:
heavier or lighter periods than you usually experience
Hot flashes typically start a year before menopause, and they can affect you over the course of 5 years. They happen as your body adjusts to the loss of estrogen that comes with menopause.
Both hot flashes and anxiety are common symptoms that people experience as they transition through menopause. Hot flashes can make you feel anxious, and anxiety can trigger hot flashes.
Hot flashes affect up to 74% of people experiencing perimenopause, as often as 10 hot flashes per day. Symptoms of hot flashes include:
A study from 2021 of 467 people experiencing menopausal symptoms states that anxiety affects the severity of hot flashes by 18%.
The researchers also found that people with severe hot flashes also have severe anxiety symptoms.
Another older study from 2017 that followed the symptoms of people experiencing menopausal symptoms across 14 years also found that experiencing anxiety increases your risk of hot flashes.
It also showed how somatic anxiety, the type of anxiety where you show physical symptoms like a pounding chest or facial flushing, increases your risk of hot flashes more than emotional anxiety.
Anxiety treatments
According to The Anxiety and Depression Association of America, about 40 million people in the United States have an anxiety disorder. While treatment cannot cure anxiety, a combination of talk therapy, mindfulness practices, and medication can help you manage your symptoms.
Meeting regularly with a professional therapist can help you manage your thinking patterns and behaviors to better cope with anxiety symptoms.
A doctor may recommend certain medications to help treat anxiety, but only for a short period, as they can carry a high risk of dependence.
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as sertraline (Zoloft) and fluoxetine (Prozac)
selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), like duloxetine (Cymbalta) and venlafaxine (Effexor XR)
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Treatment for menopausal symptoms typically includes a combination of hormone therapy, lifestyle changes, and local treatments such as vaginal lubricants.
Hormone replacement therapy
According to The North American Menopause Society, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is the most effective way to treat symptoms of menopause. Both estrogen-only and combination HRT medications can reduce the frequency of hot flashes by 75% and their severity by 87% within 6 weeks.
Some of these medications include:
Tablets: Estrogen pills like estradiol (Estrace) or a combination of estrogen and progesterone pills, which include brands such as Prempro and Activella.
Skin patch: Estradiol patches, including Alora, or a combination of estrogen and progesterone options like Combipatch.
There are plenty of changes you can make at home to help relieve symptoms of menopause. Before starting any new supplements or diets, it is important to speak with a doctor to ensure it is safe.
Some ways to help manage symptoms of menopause, like hot flashes, include:
Exercise: As your estrogen levels drop through menopause, you are at risk of osteoporosis. Strength training helps to stop your bone strength from dropping and boosts muscle mass. Exercise can also help you manage anxiety symptoms.
Diet: Including the right food items can help reduce hot flashes. For example, soybeans are rich in phytoestrogens, which can help reduce the frequency of hot flashes.
Supplements: Taking vitamin B supplements and other helpful vitamins and herbs can help reduce the frequency of hot flashes.
Summary
Hot flashes and anxiety are both common, especially during menopause. Hot flashes can make you feel anxious, and sometimes being anxious about something may trigger a hot flash. The symptoms can feel similar and can be confused with one another.
You can try different available treatment options, including lifestyle changes to help manage anxiety and hot flashes.
HRT is the most effective medication for managing menopause symptoms, including hot flashes. There are many different types of HRT, so speak with your doctor to determine if you are a good candidate for the treatment.
Zhou Q, et al. (2021). Investigation of the relationship between hot flashes, sweating, and sleep quality in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women: The mediating effect of anxiety and depression. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8351108/
