Infertility Men's Health Pregnancy Sexual Health Skin Care Weight 9. Herbs and acupuncture The fancy word for hot flashes is vasomotor instability. During a hot flash, the superficial blood vessels in our skin dilate.
Blood then rushes in and brings a lot of heat with it to the surface.
This process can repeat itself many times a day, and can get to be very annoying. For some women, it can be incapacitating. We are not certain exactly what triggers hot flashes. When the ovaries start making less estrogen, the pituitary gland and hypothalamus try to stimulate the ovaries to produce more estrogen. We think that these hormones from the brain stimulate the production of certain neurotransmitters, like adrenaline, which act on the blood vessels.