University of Massachusetts Amherst: Study Suggests Night Sweats May Be a More Troublesome Menopausal Symptom than Hot Flashes

Two hallmark signs of the menopausal transition – hot flashes and night sweats – are typically grouped together as one annoying vasomotor symptom that causes women to feel overheated.

But a study by the UMass Amherst department of anthropology looked at each symptom separately, asking 200 menopausal women about their levels of stress and depression and their experience of hot flashes and night sweats.

Preliminary findings, presented at the North American Menopause Society Annual Meeting last month in Atlanta, suggest that night sweats may be the more troublesome symptom. Night sweats occur at night while hot flashes may occur any time.

Both symptoms were significantly associated with depression, but only night sweats were significantly associated with stress.

“We know that sleeping disturbances are one of the biggest detriments for women going through menopause, but these results are unique because they show that women experiencing night sweats, rather than just hot flashes, may be at even bigger disadvantage,” says lead author Sofiya Shreyer, a Ph.D. student working with biological anthropologist Lynnette Leidy Sievert, co-author and professor of anthropology.

In addition, women who reported the highest frequency of hot flashes at night had significantly higher depression scores compared to women who had more hot flashes during the day.

“Our findings are congruent with previous studies that found sleep disruptions during menopause have a significant impact on quality of life and suggest that night sweat experience may have more severe consequences than hot flashes,” the study’s abstract states. “These findings warrant further exploration into the varying impacts of hot flashes and night sweats on women’s menopause experience.”