Always cold? Hot Flashes?

Introduction and Practice Overview 0:00

Hello, my name is Jen Goddard from Thriving Proof and I have a holistic health practice in Brewer, Maine. I do work with people virtually all over the US, but we do see people in person as well. If you're local to Breuer, love to meet you. So I help people support their health naturally and we use herbals, we used homeopathy, nutrition lifestyle, all kinds of good tools. We have an MD here that also works with us and helps formulate health plans for people as well. So together we can really create a truly integrated process and plan for our clients that are looking to heal.

And one of my clients asked me to record a video on this topic, which was the temperature control topic. If you run hot or cold or have hot flashes. so here I am. and if you have questions, Let me know. You can reach out to us. Our phone number is 207-358-0748, or you can email us at info at thrivingproof.com, where you always comment or message as well. So, the hypothalamus.

Menopause, Hot Flashes, and Hypothalamus Basics 1:14

In this case, we get this topic all the time. And people, you know, I'm always cold or I have random hot flashes. Maybe they're going through menopause. Or maybe they are not going to menopsis. But if you, it is obviously more common in menospause, so I'll talk a little bit about that. In menophause it's, the hypothalamus can be misled by the lack of estrogen into thinking that the body's temperature is off. And then that can lead to hot flash. After menopause, it tries to adjust all the hormone changes.

As a result of that, just like a muscle, as you work the muscle it gets bigger. Same thing with the hypothalamus. Studies have actually shown that after menoppause those tiny cells, those neurons have grown bigger after manopaus. We think that that's because it has been working harder through that process. That added stress, or, you know, additional tasks on their task list can lead to, it needs a little TLC. It needs little tender loving care through the process and sometimes that can make a big difference in how well we move through.

You know when our estrogen levels drop after menopause, the brain gets the signal to make more of GNRH. And this happens because the estrogen used to keep things balanced, and without it, the brain tries to adjust by making more of this hormone. So you can see that its duties are changing and shifting, just like starting a new job, it's trying to learn all of that and adapt to give you the best quality of life and help you to function the most. Those changes that this little guy's undergoing through the process can lead to symptoms like hot flashes and anxiety even.

And there's lots of ways that we can support around it. We'll talk about some of those a little bit later on. Nutritional support. It's a different for everybody. Some people may not need support in this area, some people do, and the type of support that they need can look different. So it's better to work with a professional to guide you through that process. And I like to say all the time, there is never one magic bullet when it comes to our health. But this can definitely be a piece of why you may run hot or cold or have hot flashes during menopause.

How the Hypothalamus Regulates Hormones and Temperature 3:34

There's usually always other factors as well, so this is a peace and it may or may not apply to you. So hopefully you find this helpful. So the hypothalamus, what is it? It's at the base of your brain, it's part of the diencephalon just below the thalamis, and it functions as the master regulator of endocrine system. So you'll hear it referred to as a master-regulator often if you start researching this topic. It is not really a true endocrine gland, but it controls the pituitary gland so it influences a lot of our hormone production.

Regulates growth. metabolism, reproduction, our sleep-wake cycles. So if your sleep wake cycle is off, that could be a sign of stress in this area. It manages our involuntary nervous system activity, so our fight or flight response. Okay? It can control our temperature, like we talked about, but even hunger, thirst, emotions, all that can come back to the hypothalamus. Sympathetic nervous system versus parasympathy integration. It's a bridge between our nervous systems and endocrine function, okay?

So the neurosucretions that happen as a result of all of this, of its function can impact our sugar and fat metabolism, it can affect our water balance and our hormone release. And this dysfunction can lead to obviously imbalances in all these areas, right? including regulating our body temperature. So, we talked about how it acts as that internal and external, the internal temperature gauge, right? So when your body senses a change in your internal or external temperature, that's when it signals the body to sweat or shiver or adjust the metabolism.

And it works really closely with your thyroid, your adrenal glands to regulate that heat production. Um, so as you know, menstrual cycles decline, the, The body may struggle in other areas too. It's not just in this area could struggle because it's losing your menstruation cycle as a detox pathway. We, um, do let go of toxins in our menstruated blood and that's been tested and they've even found PFAS the forever chemicals in there. So we know that we're using this. Um it, it it multi-purpose like many of the things that do in your body.

So those excess toxins, the body says, well, now we have an overload on a system that possibly was already overloaded. So it will try to get rid of some of this through sweating in our lymphatic system using hot flashes. One of the ways we can overcome that is to keep that toxic bucket that we nice and empty, clean up our nutrition, our lifestyle, and sometimes give a little TLC to the hypothalamus.

Detox, Stress, and Lifestyle Support 6:29

Or maybe we need to support the whole HPA access, you know, that's possible too. So, it's something to consider as you're moving through that time of life possibly. There has been some research shown on sauna sessions. And if you follow me for any period of time, I love my sauna and that that is a huge part of my health plan and I recommend it for so many. It really isn't anyone that it is probably not good for. But it does, this research showed that it significantly reduced menopausal symptoms like hot flashes and sweating, irritability, joint discomfort.

It supports that lymphatic drainage and your detox pathways. So it's definitely something to be considered if, you know, if you're trying to address your health in a better way. it also linked to our emotions. so it is linked fear, control, stress response, and emotional expression. So we know that chronic stress impacts our flight or flight response, and that will lead to hormone imbalances, but it can also lead difficulty regulating temperature. It also controls our sense of fullness, okay? So how full we feel when we eat or are not eating and our metabolism.

So chronic and high cortisol, that can cause the hypothalamus to disrupt weight regulation, right? so supporting that hormonal balance and reducing stress can go a long way here too. When it comes to detox and supporting our lymphatic system, there's lots of, you know, lifestyle things that you can do. Like we talked about the sauna, dry brushing is something, staying really well hydrated, using a rebounder, voluntarily sweating, cardiovascular exercise, sauna work that can help greatly in this department.

As far as nutritional support, Standard Process makes a great product called NeuroPlex. And it's a glandular support for the hypothalamus and the pineal gland. It has some essential nutrients that it needs. So it need omega-3s. That's really important for brain function. B vitamins, that's important stress resilience. Magnesium and zinc, which is important hormone regulation. And then those adaptogenic herbs like ashwagandha, rhodiola. They can be really helpful for stress balance. Some other things that you could do, you can bring in some cold exposure.

So doing ice baths, cold showers. I don't find cold showers give us as big of an impact as doing something like ice paths, but it could definitely be a good place to start. Um, I'm not a huge fan of cold shower because for me, you know, emotionally I feel like this is something that I should be enjoying. And, uh, cool shower just, changes that experience greatly.

Nutrition, Supplements, and Practical Strategies 9:20

or even just making it cold at the end. So for me, I'd prefer to do an ice bath over a cold shower, you know, mentally, emotionally. I'm in it. It's just a different mindset for myself. You may find that easier than even doing cold showers sometimes. Sleep hygiene, that's important. Keeping consistent wake and sleep times. Trying to go to bed at this same time every night, trying to wake up at same every time night regardless of what your You know, if it's a Saturday or not, it is not to say that, you know changing that or adjusting that here, one day a week or here or there is a big deal, but try to be as consistent as you possibly can.

And keep in mind if you're always sleeping, let's just say you are cutting your sleep short one hour every night, well that adds up to an entire night sleep loss at the end of the week. So that can be a bit deal. Try to pretty consistent with your sleeps, that could be really helpful for your hypothalamus, the health of your hypothalamas and how it functions. And then mindfulness, stress management techniques, you know, things like breath work, meditation. I love the brain tap headset. We have it here in the office.

we use it all day, every day with people. and that can be a great add on too. So this, gives you a little bit of an overview as to how and why that area of your brain is really helpful and really influential to this process that we experienced that. We just started, oh, it's menopause and we try to turn it off or maybe do hormone replacement therapy to give the body the estrogen. So, you know, It doesn't go through the change as much or as quickly. But if we can go dig a little bit deeper and support some of these functions that are struggling, You might find that you don't need to do that and that can be really move through the process gracefully.

So whether it's menopause or not menoppause, if you feel like you're struggling with regulating temperature in your body, this may be something to explore.