How to prevent night sweats during pregnancy
In a tropical country like ours, night sweats during pregnancy can literally be inevitable. Night sweats are your body’s way of responding to the drop in the estrogen levels in your body and add the tropical climate that we have then being sweaty for the next nine months can unfortunately be your pregnancy norm. For many, it may be too severe while others only get to experience it barely. From medication to home remedies, to buying a hi-tech bed cooling system, you can treat night sweats in a variety of ways.
You might be able to get some control over it but night sweats may not be completely curable. A constant reminder to self that this shall come to an end too will get you through this sweaty period.
Here are 5 ways that will help you overcome night sweats during pregnancy:
1. Bed Cooling Systems
Come to think of it, we’ve come a long way. From placing ice slabs under your sheets to cooling technologies like Bedjet and ChiliPad, technology has definitely helped us to sleep better by controlling night sweats. If you’re done with home remedies and diet changes and still don’t see a visible change, try investing in a bed cooling system like the Chilipad or Bedjet.
While the former uses water tubules that run through the mattress pad, the latter relies on a Wi-Fi controlled device that ventilates the bed through a small hose. The devices battle night sweats by keeping your mattress cool throughout the night which gets hot with the heat released from the body.
Sometimes, it’s your pillow that’s causing you night sweats and sleepless nights. So you really need to dig down deeper and find out the actual problem with your bedding.
2. Wear Cotton Clothing
Among all the other life changes you’ll be making, your wardrobe will be one of them. You need to buy as many cotton outfits as possible. Avoid silk and wool at any cost. That’s because cotton is more breathable than any other synthetic material and will assist you in a hot flash episode.
Another pro tip is to wear layers of clothes instead of wearing a thicker material. This way you can take off the additional layers when experiencing an episode and wear them back on when your body temperature is back to normal.
Stick to cotton when it comes to bed sheets as well. You do not want to increase the chances of a night sweat episode by sleeping in a bed sheet with a higher thread count.
3. Take a Cold Shower
Taking a shower cools the body.
Did you know that majority of night flash episodes are a result of personal hygiene problems? If you have exercised or have sweated in general, its essential to take a shower before sleeping. Showering relaxes your body by releasing endorphins in your body.
It brings down body temperature which keeps night sweats under control. If you’re unable to shower, running cool water over your wrists or splashing some on your neck will also bring down your body temperature.
4. Check Your Medication
Since pregnancy calls for a variety of medication that needs to be taken for multiple medical conditions like nausea and vomiting, night sweats may occur as a result of some medication that you’ve been taking. Over the counter medication can cause an increase in body temperature as a side effect.
Therefore, it’s important that you consult your physician and discuss your condition with them. Chances are that there might be other alternatives available for that particular medication without the added side effect of night sweats.
5. Stay Hydrated
Stay hydrated to keep the body from sweating profusely at night time.
Staying hydrated is key to preventing night sweats. Water flushes out the excessive toxins in your body and helps you stay consistently cool. By keeping your body temperature regulated, drinking sufficient water keeps night sweats at bay.
How much water is enough can be best told by your gynecologist. Although about 1.6 liters of water is the ideal consumption in women. Drinking natural fruit juices is also a healthy alternative in case you keep forgetting that you’ve to drink water frequently.
So there you have it, I hope I have somehow helped you manage night sweats that can make sleeping even more uncomfortable during these magical nine months. For more pregnancy-related articles, you may want to check out pregnancy section in the website here.