Hot flashes and sweating are the earliest and most frequent characteristic markers of women entering menopause, with episodes occurring at irregular intervals, and in severe cases, affecting the patient's work, study, sleep, and physical and mental health. Women with this phenomenon during menopause should pay more attention and do a good job of self-care.

The symptoms of hot flashes and sweating in women during menopause are mostly related to mental factors, such as occurring after emotional changes such as worry, anger, nervousness, excitement and agitation, and the onset of symptoms occurs mostly in the afternoon, at dusk, or at night, and is easy to occur in the event of an increase in heat after an activity, eating, or being overly clothed and covered. Some women may suddenly feel a rush of heat from the chest to the neck, head and face, followed by a sudden reddening of the skin on the head, neck, chest, and even back, and a generalized baking heat, accompanied by an accelerated pulse per minute, sweating, palpitations, dizziness, and other symptoms. After the symptoms disappear, about half of the patients are drenched in sweat and shivering with fear of cold, and a few show fear of cold and pallor. The frequency, severity and duration of hot flashes and sweating episodes vary greatly among individuals. Some menopausal women have occasional episodes, which are short-lived; some have them several times a day, lasting from a few seconds to a few minutes; the severe ones have frequent episodes, even once every few minutes, and have episodes of more than 30-50 times a day, with a duration of up to 10-15 minutes. This phenomenon usually lasts for more than 1 year, and in some cases even lasts for about 5 years after menopause. With the menopause, the frequency and intensity of hot flashes and sweating episodes will gradually diminish, and finally disappear naturally.

The symptoms also occur in women who are menopausal or who have undergone pre-menopausal pathologic menopause or who have had both of their ovaries removed. In men, this phenomenon is less common in menopause.

The appearance of hot flashes and sweating symptoms in menopausal women is related to endocrine and plant nervous system dysfunction. Before and after menopause, estrogen decreases, the diastolic-contractile balance of blood vessels is imbalanced, and blood vessels suddenly dilate, causing accelerated blood flow to the skin and hot flashes to occur. Some menopausal women use drugs that inhibit the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis, such as gonadotropin-releasing hormone and high-efficiency progesterone, resulting in a decrease in the level of estrogen in the body, and hot flashes can also occur. In addition, because estrogen has the effect of enhancing the parasympathetic nerves, the decrease in estrogen levels during menopause weakens its stabilizing effect on the parasympathetic nerves of the hypothalamic-vegetative nerve centers, resulting in reactive sympathetic hypertonia that produces regional vasodilatation. The vegetative nervous system in the head, neck, chest, and back regions is more sensitive to this, resulting in the most significant hot flashes and sweating. At the end of menopause, the vegetative nervous system has gradually adapted to achieve a new balance under the re-adjustment, so the hot flashes, sweating symptoms will naturally disappear.