Hot flashes or hot flushes up sweating often occurs in women who headed the age of menopause. The researchers say, hot flashes actually controlled by a specific area of the brain.
Vaibhav Diwadkar, the researcher who is also professor of psychiatry and neurosciences at Wayne State University says, has found changes in brain activity that marked the beginning of the occurrence of hot flashes. "Activity in the particular area of the brain to change even before the hot flashes happen," he said.
The findings, published in the journal Cerebral Cortex may provide some way for experts to proper handling of menopause. Diwadkar said, in the future the experts can determine the effectiveness of treatment of menopause by measuring brain activity.
Menopause or the end of the menstrual cycle in women often provide unpleasant symptoms, such as insomnia, fatigue, and hot flashes. These symptoms occur due to hormonal changes and drastic happened while.
In this study, Diwadkar and his team performed an analysis of 20 postmenopausal women aged 47 to 58 years. The women experience hot flashes as much as six times or more each day. Then they examined the brain activity of the brain scanner, while their bodies are in the heating machine to trigger hot flashes.
The researchers found, there is a special activity in the brain stem that makes the occurrence of hot flashes. The brain stem connects the hemispheres of the cerebellum with the spinal cord. The parts involved in the regulation of body temperature.
And hot flashes also involves insula activity, the front of the brain. In this section, the perception created something that felt personal and the human body.
Diwidkar said, researchers have long suspected there was something going on in the brain at the onset of hot flashes. But he was quite surprised, because the activity occurred even earlier, before the advent of hot flashes.
Professor at the University of Melbourne Australia Robin McAllen says these findings are very useful because it can reveal the initial activity in the brain before the onset of hot flashes. However, further studies are needed to find the neural pathways that trigger hot flashes.
Hot flashes during this dealt with hormone therapy and antidepressant medication intake. In addition, diet also helps relieve it. Foods that trigger the spicy foods, caffeinated beverages, and smoking.
