Hot Flashes May Occur More Often in Second Half of Nightly Sleep

MONDAY, Sept. 16, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Hot flashes (HFs) may pose a larger burden during the second half of the night, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Menopause Society, held from Sept. 10 to 14 in Chicago.

Annika K. Houge, from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and colleagues sought to identify if there were differences in objectively measured HFs in the first versus second half of the night in perimenopausal people. The analysis included 59 healthy, perimenopausal people (aged 43 to 54 years) free of cardiovascular disease who experienced objectively measured nocturnal HF.

The researchers found that during two 24-hour monitoring periods, 36 participants experienced nocturnal HF, resulting in 50 monitoring periods (150 recorded HFs). Forty-one percent of total recorded HFs occurred during the first half of the night, while 59 percent occurred in the second half. By monitoring period, nine only had HF in the first half of the night, 14 only had HF in the second half of the night, and 27 had HF in both halves. There were no significant differences in the proportion of monitoring periods with HFs in the first half versus second half of the night. However, the rate of HF was significantly greater in the second half versus the first half of the night (0.304 HF/hour versus 0.424 HF/hour; V = 251.5; Z = −2.13).

“Future directions include pinpointing the association of HFs with sleep disruptions and evaluating relations with subclinical cardiovascular disease risk,” the authors write.

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