In Case You Haven't Heard…

Science is discovering hot flashes are much more than just a sweaty sign of menopause — their frequency or severity may also be linked to heart problems, stroke and cognitive decline later in a woman's life, CNN reported Sept. 24. A study presented at the 2019 conference of the North American Menopause Society last week found night sweats were linked to cognitive dysfunction in menopausal women, decreasing the ability to pay attention and perform higher‐level thinking tasks. Another found a direct link between the frequency and persistence of hot flashes and cardiovascular events later in a woman's life. And here's a startling finding: Another study found there's even a link between childhood trauma and hot‐flash severity later in life. “Having a hot flash is a much more significant event than providers actually appreciated for many years,” said psychiatry professor Rebecca Thurston, who directs the Women's Biobehavioral Health lab at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. “We're starting to link these hot flashes to various different health indices and outcomes, including women's cardiovascular health,” she said.