The varying experience of hot flashes

Filed in archive Studies on August 3, 2005

Women have varying experiences with hot flashes:

Although the physiology of hot flashes has been studied for more than 30 years, no one is completely sure why or how they occur. One possible explanation has to do with an individual's tolerance for temperature changes. One line of research shows that women who have hot flashes have a lower tolerance for changes in the body's core (innermost) temperature than women who don't have hot flashes.

Normally, the body tries to maintain its core temperature within a comfortable "thermoneutral zone." When core body temperature crosses the upper threshold of this zone, sweating occurs; when it drops below the lower threshold, shivering results. Women who have hot flashes have a thermoneutral zone that's so narrow, even the tiniest changes in core body temperature can trigger sweating (or chills). These symptoms are generally absent in women with a wider thermoneutral zone, explains the Harvard Women's Health Watch.

("Hot flashes - women experience this symptom differently", News-Medical.Net, Aug.4)