Have you ever had such experience? You suddenly feel that your face and the upper body are burning. You may even have fast heartbeat and headache. This is known as hot flash. A hot flash is a biological process of a woman causing by the hormone connected to menopause.

Usually menopause will happen at the age of 50. Before menopause, the level of estrogen in the body will decrease. The level of estrogen will affect the hypothalamus which helps to control sleep cycle, sex hormones and temperature of women. As a result, the lower level of estrogen leads to a signal of being "very hot". Your body will in turn react to this signal in order to "cool down" the body. And the way to cooling down is in fact the symptoms of hot flash. However, the body is cooled down but it should not have to be.

If you have even experienced the symptoms described above, I can tell you that you are not alone. According to researches, 85% of women in US will experience these symptoms when it is near menopause. And up to 50% of them will continue to have these symptoms for a period of time. Of course the intensity of the symptoms will decrease when time goes by. And different people may experience different intensity of the symptoms at different period of time. However, researches show that these will usually happen between 6 to 8 a.m. and 6 to 10 p.m.

Do not panic if you have such symptoms of hot flash. There are ways to avoid hot flash. First of all we would need to know the cause of these symptoms. Clinical studies have shown that hot flashes can be triggered by various factors. Some of these factors are alcohol, caffeine, diet pills, spicy food, hot food, hot tubs, smoking and hot weather. To avoid hot flash, you can dress in layers so that you can take off the clothes when you have the feeling of hot flash. If it is allowed and possible, you can lower the thermostat of the air-conditioner.

There are also some treatments of hot flashes. Chinese medicine is one of the effective ways. Treatments such as acupuncture and herbology can be adopted.

Researches also show that low-dose of antidepressants can help to delay hot flash. While some other studies conclude that effexor (venlafaxine) can help to half the frequency of hot flashes.