Wondering if CBD can help with hot flashes? Learn more about using CBD oil for menopause symptoms below.
Does CBD Help With Hot Flashes?
Hot. Cold. Hot. Cold. Hot. Cold.
Sound familiar?
Hot flashes aren’t a minor inconvenience – they are disruptive to everyday life.
While hot flashes are bad enough on their own, they aren’t the only frustrating symptom of menopause.
Add in poor sleep quality, chills, night sweats, and mood issues – and dealing with menopause symptoms feels like a full-time job.
If you are suffering from hot flashes and other menopause symptoms, CBD might be the right option for you. Science suggests CBD may be able to relieve some of your worst symptoms – naturally.
What are Hot Flashes?
Although it is a natural biological process, menopause creates an onslaught of difficult emotional and physical symptoms that are hard to deal with.
One of the toughest symptoms to experience is hot flashes.
During a hot flash, the body’s temperature increases a whopping 1.5 to 3 degrees.
This can lead to random and intense bouts of profuse sweating during both waking and sleeping hours – which can put a huge damper on your overall mood.
Menopause causes hot flashes because of neurochemical changes to the brain’s hypothalamus, which regulates the body’s temperature.
All of the body’s systems work together to maintain homeostasis – the internal balance of its functions.
When your temperature increases, the body induces processes that bring it back down to equilibrium.
So one moment you might feel feverish from heat, then the next shivering with cold. Although your body is simply trying to maintain homeostasis, the back-and-forth from hot to cold feels really uncomfortable.
The Endocannabinoid System
Every human body has its own endocannabinoid system (ECS). Scientists believe that the ECS plays a part in regulating homeostasis – our body’s way of maintaining its internal environment.
Research suggests that the ECS may be related to functions like appetite, pain, inflammation, mood, sleep, stress, and the reproductive system. The ECS has receptors along the central and peripheral nervous systems.
When triggered by a disruption of homeostasis, the ECS produces its own chemical compounds, called endocannabinoids.
These endocannabinoids bind with the receptors along the nervous systems, producing reactions that balance bodily functions.
The hormonal fluctuations of menopause disrupt homeostasis. CBD may restore balance by interacting with the body’s naturally-occurring ECS.
The Science Behind CBD
CBD (Cannabidiol) is a chemical compound known as a cannabinoid. It’s similar to the endocannabinoids produced by your body, but it is produced by the cannabis plant.
Although it has its roots in cannabis, CBD will not get you high like THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol).
CBD is just one of over a hundred cannabinoids produced by the cannabis plant.
Using CBD for wellness isn’t a new trend. Humans have harnessed the medicinal properties of cannabis for thousands of years.
Nowadays, research shows that CBD binds to the receptors along your endocannabinoid system and may help your body maintain homeostasis.
If menopause symptoms like hot flashes are disturbing your body’s internal balance, CBD might be the right choice to kick your ECS back into gear.
CBD for Menopause Symptoms
Research on the female reproductive system shows that the ECS plays a large part in its regulation. In fact, it may even influence folliculogenesis, endocrine secretion, and oocyte maturation.
If you’re suffering from hormonal fluctuations due to menopause, CBD may relieve some of the following symptoms:
● Hot Flashes
Decreasing estrogen may play a role in the hot flashes that accompany menopause. This hormonal fluctuation impacts the areas of the brain that regulate temperature.
Sweating is one of the ways your body cools off when its core temperature is too high, but sweating too much can feel like you’re drowning in your own body.
Since the ECS is associated with the brain and female reproductive system, this may be why CBD works so well to keep the body’s functions in balance.
● Night Sweats
Night flashes are the hot flashes of your nightmares.
Even while you sleep, your body works hard to maintain its proper temperature. When hormonal fluctuations cause the body’s temperature to rapidly rise, sweat helps it cool off. When you’re fast asleep during a hot flash, you have no way to recognize it is happening and cool down, so you wake up drenched in sweat.
Changing your pajamas and sheets each night is no fun. As a neurochemical that affects your brain and reproductive system, CBD might be the best way for you to get through the night sweat-free.
● Anxiety
As if life isn’t already stressful enough, anxiety is one of the most common symptoms associated with menopause. With so many hormones in fluctuation, affecting your body’s neurochemistry, you’re bound to feel stressed. Add in bad sleep and spontaneous hot flashes, and you might be feeling anxious about what your body will do next.
Research suggests CBD may improve mood, stress, depression, and anxiety. If menopause has you feeling extra grumpy, CBD might be the right choice for you.
● Disrupted Sleep
Getting a good night’s rest is difficult for most people, but for those going through menopause, it’s even harder. Between the tossing and turning, night sweats, and racing thoughts, it’s a lot for one person to deal with.
Getting enough quality sleep is crucial for your body to repair and build, especially during a transformative change like menopause. Sleep deprivation will only make your health issues worse.
Fortunately, science shows that CBD may induce sleep. And as we said above, it may also reduce secondary factors that might be affecting your sleep – like anxiety and night sweats.
Is CBD for Menopause Legal?
CBD is legal in all 50 states. Although CBD is psychoactive (because it affects mood), it is considered non-intoxicating, since it won’t get you high.
Unlike THC, with CBD, you don’t have to worry about feeling paranoid, anxious, or couchlocked. Instead you have all the benefits of hemp, with none of the high!
Although CBD contains properties that may positively support your health, it is important to note that CBD is a dietary supplement – not a medicinal treatment.
CBD Dosage for Hot Flashes
Everyone’s body is unique, so CBD tolerance differs from one person to the next. Finding the right dosage of CBD for your symptoms might take some trial-and-error.
A nice starting point for dosing is with our EVERYDAY CBD Tincture by taking 1-3 drops orally under your tongue once per day. From there, you can see how you feel and take more the next time as needed. Depending on the severity of your symptoms, as well as your personal tolerance, you may need to take more or less CBD.
While prescriptions and over-the-counter meds leave you groggy and irritable, CBD is a natural supplement with few to none side effects.
Don’t let the symptoms of menopause negatively impact your daily life.
CBD might be able to help.
Have you tried CBD for hot flashes? Let us know in the comments section below!