In the Land of the Rising Sun, hot flashes are not even part of the vocabulary and menopause appears to be basically no biggie. Meantime, the rest of us are trying to figure out exactly why. Researchers believe it has more to do with diet than climate. Japanese women eat less animal protein than Western women, consume less fat and eat several servings of soy each day. Pumped up with phytoestrogens that camouflage the sudden estrogen drop typical of menopause, your body may never know what it's missing.
Researchers continue to study the relationship between a soy-rich diet and female hormones.
Your face and neck may become flushed and red and blotches may appear on your chest, back and arms. Profuse sweating is often followed by cold shivering, as your body tries to swing its temperature back the other way. A hot flash can last a few moments or as much as 30 minutes. Eighty percent of all women with hot flashes report that they have them for 2 years or less, but some report having them for more than 5 years. In one study conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, results showed that African-American women are twice as likely to develop hot flashes as white women.