Relief for Hot Flashes

Hot flashes are the bane of many women going through menopause. If you've ever blushed, you know how the heat suffuses the face, sometimes causing a fine sheen of sweat. Now multiply that by at least ten and experience the flush from your toes to your forehead, and you'll begin to understand why hot flashes can make women so miserable. Fine one minute, dripping with sweat the next, hot flashes come at any time of the day or night, often making sleep difficult, if not merely uncomfortable. However, several home remedies for hot flashes might offer effective and inexpensive relief.

Soy Foods

• Many women find that eating foods that contain soy help reduce hot flashes. Such foods include soy milk, tofu, miso, whole soybeans as well as soy powders often used in protein shakes and drinks. Soy products are commonly found in Asia, where fewer women seem to be affected by hot flashes. Soy contains isoflavones, which are similar to estrogen, a female hormone that decreases during menopause.

Black Cohosh Tea

• Generations of women swear by black cohosh tea, which is used mainly in Europe for the relief of hot flashes. While the Mayo Clinic states there is little evidence linking drinking between 20 to 60 mg of black cohosh tea three times a day with relief of hot flashes, women have been touting its benefits for decades.

Vitamin E

• Taking between 400 IU and 800 IU of Vitamin E on a daily basis is also an age-old home remedy for hot flashes and those dreaded night sweats. An antioxidant, the use of Vitamin E for menstrual hot flashes has been studied since the 1940s in the U.S. Combining the positive effects of black cohosh, soy and Vitamin E are often utilized by women for superior relief as an alternative to drug hormone replacement therapies.