Menopause and hot flushes

I've tended to avoid posting about anything too personal but as a 40+ blogger this subject does come up and I feel that I would be wrong to avoid it completely and not share what I have found out about menopause symptoms and what has worked to help me.  So in this post I am talking about menopause, hot flushes and night sweats.

I spoke about menopause and alcohol tolerance back in April and it was a very popular post that so many of you really related to.  And many of your comments helped me with finding a way to manage how much wine I was drinking!  Still a work in progress by the way!

Before that I did a post about insomnia which as we all know is part of the whole menopause thing too.  I was particularly focusing on the blue light that is emitted from our phones and devices and controlling my usage in the evening has definitely helped.

My blog posts about menopause and the symptoms are personal, what I am experiencing and ways that I am dealing with it.  Obviously I am not an expert and I am not a doctor.  But just like sitting around over a cup of tea with friends, I am chatting to you as friends and saying this is what I have found out.  

What I would say is don't suffer alone - do the research, go and chat to your GP, find out if you have a GP at your surgery who specialises in menopause, make an appointment.  Someone also told me about 'Menopause Barbie' as she is affectionately known, her website is Menopause Taylor and she offers some very sound advice and a whole series of YouTube Videos which I have not had a chance to really watch yet but I am told it is good stuff.

Also remember that peri-menopause symptoms can start around 45 ish sometimes earlier so don't dismiss strange symptoms, keep an open mind.  I am pretty sure I was having symptoms a lot earlier than I actually realised.

My navy dress is from Hush last summer, sandals from Moda in Pelle and bag from Boden

​But the purpose of this post is to talk about the pesky night sweats, hot sweats, hot flushes - they affect every woman slightly differently.  For me it has been overwhelming heat especially at night, an increase in temperature that I just couldn't control.  My poor husband was getting quite used to being frozen in the middle of winter as I had to have the window open. 

First of all we changed our mattress.  The previous memory foam style, whilst extremely comfortable, made the night sweats worse.   We went for a Simba mattress, still memory foam but with a cool comfort layer to stop the problem with overheating.  They are not ridiculously expensive and you can try and buy at John Lewis, they also offer a 100 night money back guarantee - so if you don't like it then it can be returned.  Things improved but I still wasn't quite there so I researched duvets.

I had tried two different duvet's including silk and then feather and down, and summer and winter tog/all seasons.  We purchased the rather wonderful Dyson fan for the bedroom and I did find it helpful when I got really hot especially in the warmer weather but it still wasn't controlling my thermostat completely.

Then I heard about wool duvets.  But having already tried two types of duvet  I didn't really think it was worth trying something else.  Then we visited Thame Show - well my husband was there first and called me from the show and said I've been chatting to someone who is selling wool duvets and I think we should get one, I'm sure it will help your night sweats.  Well him and I hadn't discussed wool duvets, I hadn't dared say I want to try something else.  I arrived at the show a bit later and we bought a wool duvet and mattress topper and so did my sister-in-law - in fact she bought the pillows too.

The company was Baavet.  We got them home and as we had been warned there was a slight sheep smell so we left them out to air for a few days before using them.  My sister-in-law was less worried and put hers on the bed the next day.  Then we started texting and the long and short of it is - OMG we both love them and have both found that any night sweats have gone and are totally under control now.

Wool duvet from Baavet

​I am sure there are lots of sciency bits I could tell you about why wool is best and why it works, But I will keep it simple.  Wool doesn't have the usual tog rating that we associate with duvets.  It is a natural fibre that evolved to keep sheep cool when hot and warm when cold.  So wool fibres naturally adapt to keep you at a steady temperature.  Perfect for sleeping under.  Feather and down and synthetic fibres trap the heat and moisture thus making you hotter and hotter - wool works differently hence it's ability to regulate to what your body needs, just like sheep!

Baavet say 'Wool is the finest fibre on the planet to sleep under. Wool is also excellent for asthma, eczema sufferers and for anyone with overheating problems in bed.

Baavet offer three weights of wool duvet - light, medium and winter depending on what you are like as a sleeper.  We chose the medium and it adapts perfectly for both myself and my husband.  He's not been cold and I've not had one night sweat since putting the baavet duvet on my bed

So the combination of the right mattress, a wool mattress topper and a wool duvet have made all the difference to my sleep and hot sweats caused by my fluctuating hormones.

You can find out more about Baavet and how they started making their duvets on their website here, you can order online and I am delighted to share a discount with you.  At checkout please use the code FF50 and this will entitle you to 20% off your full order.

Do let me know how you cope with overheating at night!

Love from
Michelle xx

Read more here - Wellness in Menopause Workshop and my top tips for managing menopause naturally.

Disclaimer:  this is not a sponsored post, I contacted Baavet to ask for the discount code and offered to include them in my post about menopause and hot sweats.  My post may contain affiliate links, if you click on a link and subsequently buy something then I may receive a small commission to help with the running costs of my blog.

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