What Vitamins Are Good For A Woman Over 50 With Night Sweats?

As you get older, your body changes, as do the needs of your body. Night sweats are a classic sign of menopause and many women over the age of 50 experience menopause or symptoms of menopause. Decreases in estrogen levels trigger menopausal symptoms such as night sweats. Nutrition can play an important role in regulating the symptoms of menopause.

Night Sweats

Night sweats are hot flashes that occur during sleep. Estrogen levels tend to be at the lowest during night. Hot flashes disrupt the normal functioning of the vascular and motor bodily systems, causing intense feelings of heat, rapid or irregular heartbeat, flushing, perspiration or cold chills. Occasionally, nausea, dizziness, anxiety and headaches may accompany hot flashes. Not all women experience hot flashes or night sweats during menopause and those who do, do not experience the same severity.

Significance

Hormonal and biochemical fluctuations occur when estrogen levels fall. The decreasing estrogen levels cause the hypothalamus, which is the area of the brain that regulates heat, to discharge chemicals, causing blood vessels to expand in order for heat to be released. When the hypothalamus is kicked into overdrive, it produces excess heat. It is this process that is responsible for hot flashes and night sweats.

Vitamins

Vitamin E may act as an estrogen substitute, thereby reducing night sweats, according to the Mother Nature website. The daily recommended amount of vitamin E for women over 50 is 8mg. Sources of vitamin E include olive, soybean, corn, canola and sunflower oils. Vitamin B6 can help in the regulation of estrogen levels, helping to control night sweats. It plays a role in metabolism, nervous system function, red blood cell formation and function, hormone function and niacin formation, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. The daily recommended amount of vitamin B6 for women over 50 is 1.5mg. Sources of vitamin B6 include russet baked potatoes, spinach, chicken, turkey, salmon and bananas.

Expert Insight

Vitamin E has been shown to be effective at reducing hot flashes in women during menopause, according to a 2003 review of alternative treatments for hot flashes posted on A Natural Healing Center website. Studies as early as the 1940s proved that daily doses of vitamin E, taken for at least four weeks, decreased hot flashes. It has also been shown to help reduce fatigue, palpitations and dizziness. The same review discovered that vitamin C and hesperidin given daily for four weeks also reduced hot flashes and more than half of the women in the study were completely relieved of hot flashes. The daily recommended intake of vitamin C for women over 50 is 60mg. Sources of vitamin C include strawberries, oranges, grapefruits and tomatoes.