Night Sweats during Pregnancy

Night sweats during menopause have similar causes as those during pregnancy, so it can be helpful to learn about the undercurrents of night sweats during pregnancy to understand the menopausal version. Continue reading to find out about night sweats during pregnancy.

What Are Night Sweats during Pregnancy?

Night sweats and hot flashes are essentially the same symptom, but occurring at different times and contexts. Hot flashes usually occur during the day, and night sweats while sleeping.Night sweats during pregnancy, which are also known as “nocturnal hyperhydrosis”, are caused by hormonal imbalances. These imbalances, normal during both pregnancy and menopause, can lead to malfunctions in the body's temperature gauge.

Night sweats during pregnancy can become intense enough to wake a woman from sound sleep, either from unbearable heat or being drenched in sweat. This can be problematic since it can lead to sleep deprivation, which can negatively affect daily life.

What Causes Night Sweats during Pregnancy?

Night sweats during pregnancy are primarily caused by hormonal imbalance. The hypothalamus, which regulates body heat, begins to malfunction, triggering the body to increase its temperature. The body then realizes it's overheating and starts to sweat to try and cool down.

The declining level of estrogen hormones associated with pregnancy is responsible for the hypothalamus' malfunction, which detects an increased body temperature and releases chemicals that cause the blood vessels to dilate so the heat can be released; this causes night sweats during pregnancy and is sometimes accompanied by cold shivering.

What to Do about Night Sweats during Pregnancy

The most important way to alleviate night sweats during pregnancy is to balance the body's hormones. This can be achieved by:

• A healthy diet
• Regular exercise
• Hormone-balancing products, such as alternative medicine.