{"id":13296,"date":"2026-09-11T19:31:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/?p=13296"},"modified":"2026-09-11T19:31:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:31:21","slug":"what-happens-to-your-body-during-a-hot-flash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/what-happens-to-your-body-during-a-hot-flash\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happens to Your Body During a Hot Flash?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A hot flash is a sudden warm feeling in the upper body, usually the most intense over the face, neck, and chest.\u00a0Hot flashes are most commonly caused by menopause.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Menopause is when the menstrual period stops for good, with most women experiencing a hot flash about four and a half to five years after their last period. It is diagnosed after 12 months without having a menstrual period, vaginal bleeding, or spotting.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During a hot flash, a woman might feel like she is spiking a high fever, but physiologically, that\u00a0isn’t\u00a0what\u00a0is happening. As women approach menopause\u00a0and the ovaries begin to produce less estrogen, the hypothalamus, the brain’s internal thermostat, becomes hypersensitive to even small shifts in temperature.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When a woman experiences a hot flash, the body believes it is overheating, even when the actual temperature hasn’t changed much. In response to this, the body tries to cool down as blood vessels dilate, which is supposed to help dissipate some of that heat, triggering a sweating reflex. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How an individual woman experiences\u00a0hot flashes\u00a0varies greatly. Some women describe very mild symptoms, while others suffer from profuse sweating.\u00a0Additionally, some\u00a0women only have hot flashes during the day, while others have regular night sweats.\u00a0According to the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, about four in five women experience hot flashes at some point\u00a0during the menopause transition.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Common triggers of hot flashes include:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n