Term “hot flashes” was introduced in medical literature to describe flashes of heat, burning and warmth that occur when white blood cells killed the cancer Rous Sarcoma virus. As women enter menopause, estrogen level goes down which causes hot flashes. This is when the body releases a lot of adrenaline due to lack of estrogen, as a result it triggers hot flashes. When the body has too much cortisol and adrenaline, the nervous system becomes agitated and overheated.
This affects blood vessels in your skin and triggers hot flushes. Estrogen and testosterone is responsible for regulating heat in human body, if there is imbalance between them, you may experience more intense hot flashes symptoms like insomnia and anxiety. What is a hot flash? Hot flashes are an important aspect of menopause. About 80% of women experience hot flashes in the one to three years after their last menstrual period. Around half of women who have hot flashes will have them for about three years. Hot flashes are typically experienced by women sometime after age 40 and up to age 55. They may occur before or during menopause, when the ovaries stop producing estrogen. Hot flashes can happen for one reason or another and there are many treatments for them (see below for more information).
The spiritual meaning of hot flashes is that your body is trying to tell you something. The hot flash is the universe’s way of telling you that you need to slow down, take a deep breath, and focus on what’s really important in life. It’s not just about the heat—it’s about the heat plus the cooling down that follows it. The cooling-down phase is when you get to reflect on what went wrong during your day and why it went wrong. You can also think about what went right and what you learned from it.
It’s important to think about these things because they will help guide your next steps in life. If you are experiencing frequent hot flashes, then perhaps it’s time to go back to basics and start again with some grounding exercises like meditation or yoga. A hot flash is a symptom of perimenopause or menopause. It’s a feeling of sudden heat that can last a few seconds to several minutes, and it tends to occur in the face, neck, chest, and back. Hot flashes are often accompanied by sweating and flushing. Hot flashes are sometimes linked to other symptoms of menopause, including headaches, difficulty sleeping, mood changes, vaginal dryness, bladder problems (such as incontinence), and vaginal itching or soreness. In some women, hot flashes may be severe enough to interfere with daily functioning.
Hot flashes are not harmful for most women who experience them during menopause. However, if you have severe hot flashes that disrupt your life or make it difficult for you to function normally during the day (for example if they cause you discomfort when you’re trying to sleep), talk with your doctor about possible treatments.
Spiritual Meaning Of Hot Flashes
Most women experience hot flashes before, during, and after menopause. These are brief episodes characterized by a sudden feeling of being uncomfortably hot.
Hot flashes that are associated with menopause are caused by hormonal changes.1 Sometimes the symptoms can be managed with simple approaches, such as using a fan, drinking cold fluids, and dressing in layers. Many women benefit from hormone therapy. The best treatment for you depends on the severity of your symptoms and which treatment approach is most helpful for you.
Symptoms
While they are entirely normal, hot flashes can be disruptive for you. Some women average one hot flash a day, and others have them frequently, with episodes coming on all day and night.
Hot flashes start suddenly and typically last for around two to four minutes.2 The episodes can occur at any time, but they can be worse when the temperature is warm or when you are feeling anxious or stressed.
Associated Symptoms
Hot flashes include symptoms such as sweating on the face, neck, and chest, as well as a burning sensation.3 The warmth of a hot flash is often accompanied by flushing, which is redness of the affected areas.4
You may also experience heavy sweating, tingling of your fingers, and palpitations. As these effects begin to resolve, some women experience chills, shivers, and a feeling of anxiety.
Hot flashes are uncomfortable and can be distracting when you are trying to take care of things during the day. These episodes can also disturb your sleep when they occur at night.
Hot Flashes May Occur For Years
You may experience intermittent hot flashes for five to seven years, but sometimes these episodes continue for up to 10 to 15 years or even longer.5
They usually start during the premenopausal years (before menopause) and stop shortly after menopause occurs (when you have stopped having your period for a year), but they can continue into the postmenopausal years (after menopause has occurred).
Causes
Some women notice that certain things trigger hot flashes—like spicy foods, caffeine, or cigarette smoke.6
While some situations may make them more frequent or uncomfortable, you can experience hot flashes even in the absence of triggers.
Hot flashes caused by hormonal changes trigger a heat-dissipation response. They are associated with sympathetic activation that narrows the body’s thermoneutral zone (ideal body temperature range).
Estrogen
Hot flashes are caused by a drop in estrogen, a hormone that regulates womens’ menstrual cycles and helps support fertility and pregnancy.7
There are several types of estrogen made by the ovaries, and the body’s production of estrogen hormones begins to decline substantially in the years before menopause. The decline in estrogen before and after menopause occurs gradually and at irregular intervals.
Estrogen and Body Temperature
In addition to its effects on women’s reproduction, estrogen also helps regulate body temperature by interacting with the hypothalamus, a region in the brain that monitors and adjusts your temperature. Fluctuating estrogen levels makes it difficult for the hypothalamus to regulate temperature.8
The altered body temperature causes minor changes in the blood vessels that are located near the skin.
Vascular Changes
Sudden dilation (widening) of the blood vessels close to the skin during hot flashes results in a warm feeling and a red, flushed appearance.9
Sweating occurs as the body attempts to cool off. The release of fluid on your skin due to sweating lowers your core body temperature, leading to chills and shivering right after a hot flash.
Treatment
There are a number of ways to manage hot flashes.10 Because they generally last for only minutes at a time, it helps to try to figure out when you tend to experience them. Some lifestyle adjustments can help you adapt, and several prescription medications can prevent hot flashes.
Lifestyle Strategies
Drink Fluids
Drinking something cold is a fast and effective way to cool your body. If you tend to feel hot, keeping a cool drink nearby can help you quickly cool off. It may take some planning to make sure that your drink stays at just the right temperature for you, but the extra effort is worth it.
Also, keep in mind that staying hydrated is important too. That means that it is important to drink plenty of water and other drinks that are low in sugar, caffeine, and alcohol.11
Dress to Stay Cool
Dressing in layers is important if hot flashes sneak up on you.12 Dressing for comfort also requires planning, especially if you are used to wearing certain outfits for work. For example, if you wear an attractive and professional blouse under your blazer, you can take off your jacket when you feel too hot.
And remember that you don’t have to compromise your style or professional look during menopause! You can find fabrics that will wick the perspiration away from your skin, and it is important to try them on, instead of buying them online or from a catalog.
Deep Breathing
Deep breathing techniques can shorten hot flashes and make them milder.13 Teach yourself to start slow, deep breaths as soon as you feel a hot flash coming on. Take as deep a breath as you can, and hold it a moment before letting it out slowly. Expanding your rib cage can help trigger the parasympathetic nervous system, which calms you down and helps regulate temperature.14
If you practice deep breathing techniques, like yoga breathing or Pilates breathing, they will come more naturally when you need to use them.15
Cool the Room
Turn down the thermostat, open the windows, or use the air conditioner or fan.16 Keeping your indoor temperature below 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and about 65 degrees Fahrenheit at night will help keep your body temperature more comfortable.
Try sleeping with several light covers so you can choose how many you need.
Avoid the Heat
A hot environment can make you more prone to hot flashes and may make the episodes more uncomfortable.17 Sunbathing, hot tubs, and sitting in an uncovered sunny spot for too long can make you very uncomfortable.
Skip the Spice
Some women notice that spicy foods cause flushing and a feeling of warmth.18 Pay attention to your own food triggers, and avoid eating or drinking anything that triggers a hot flash.
Medication
Prescription medications can help prevent hot flashes.19 If your symptoms are persistent or very bothersome, you may benefit from medications that prevent your hot flashes and/or medication to reduce your symptoms.
Hormone Therapy
Hormone therapy is often used to control hot flashes.20 Hormone therapy includes estrogen replacement therapy or estrogen/progesterone combination therapy. Some women who are at a high risk of breast, ovarian, or uterine cancer might not be able to use estrogen replacement therapy.
Symptomatic Treatment
If you are also experiencing depression, hypertension, or insomnia related to your hot flashes, your healthcare provider might prescribe a medication to manage your associated symptoms.21
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
You may also hear about CAM therapies in the management of hot flashes. Some women experience improvement with aerobic exercise or yoga, while some get worse.22 When it comes to CAM therapy, as long as it is safe, you can use whatever works for you.
Herbal Remedies
Most herbs are sold over-the-counter, without a healthcare provider’s prescription. Be sure to verify that any herbal remedy is safe before you start using it.23
Flaxseed is a natural supplement that can also be used as an ingredient in food. It has been promoted as a way to relieve some symptoms of menopause, but there is not strong evidence to back up its effects.24
There are many vitamin, plant, and herbal remedies with a reputation for helping hot flashes. Vitamin E, yam phytoestrogens, black cohosh, and Er-xian have all been used for many years as menopause treatments.25
While people may share their positive experiences with natural remedies, these approaches have not been proven effective in scientific studies
Acupuncture
Acupuncture has been shown to improve hot flashes but research shows26 that, while women report a positive effect in response to this therapy, it is not better than placebo.
Feeling Heat In Legs Spiritual Meaning
The most solemn and sacred part of our daily prayers is the amidah (“standing” prayer), where the soul achieves the height of intimacy in its communion with its Creator. So sacrosanct is this prayer that the Talmud instructs: “Even if a king greets him, he should not respond; even if a snake is coiled around his heel, he should not interrupt.”
However, the Talmud goes on to qualify this law by explaining that the “snake” in question is one whose venom is not life-threatening. Thus, if a scorpion, whose sting can be fatal, threatens a person while he is praying, he should interrupt his prayers.
Like the human being it comes to instruct, the Torah consists of a “body”—a code of law that governs the physical life of man—as well as a “soul”—an inner dimension that addresses our spiritual selves. And every part of the Torah’s body has its counterpart in the Torah’s soul. Every law in the Talmud and Shulchan Aruch encapsulates within it a deeper significance, instructing the inner life of man in addition to his external behavior.
The same is true of the legal distinction between a “snake” and a “scorpion” as regards the interruption of prayer. Our sages tell us that a snake injects a person with a “burning” poison, while a scorpion’s poison is “cold.” Translated into the terms of “the service of the heart” that is the inner essence of prayer, there are two types of spiritual maladies that threaten the soul in its quest to come close to G-d. The first is a “burning poison”—the heat and passion of earthly desires. A second spiritual threat is the poison of “coldness”—the apathy which leaves a person indifferent to everything and anything, material and spiritual alike.
In Maimonides’ description of Abraham’s quest for truth and his recognition of the One G-d, we read that, initially, Abraham was “immersed amongst the foolish idol-worshippers of Ur Kasdim; his father, mother and the entire population—he amongst them—all worshipped idols.” Asks Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi: why is it important that we know that the first Jew once worshipped idols? But it is precisely because Abraham worshipped idols, answers Rabbi Schneur Zalman, that he came to recognize the divine truth. Because he cared, because he passionately and devotedly served what he had been misleadingly taught to regard as worthy of worship, his sincere desire matured into a desire for G-d. Had he been indifferent to the idols of his native land, he would never have searched for and discovered the true G-d.
Thus the Talmud says: “Even if a snake is coiled around his heel, he should not interrupt.” Even if you feel threatened by a poisonous heat, keep on praying. Place yourself in G-d’s hands and beseech Him to guide you to the truth. If your intentions are pure, your profane heat will be transformed into a holy fire.
On the other hand, if a person is threatened by the frigid poison of a scorpion, he must interrupt his prayers. When a person is faced with the icy sting of indifference—even if it is only his “heel” (i.e., a lowly and marginal part of the self) that is threatened—he must conduct a full re-assessment and re-orientation of his spiritual life. Nothing positive and holy can ever spring forth from spiritual coldness.
Spiritual Meaning of Being Cold
Being Cold in spots on your body, feet, shins, or hands, are classic entity attachment spots. They drain and feed off of your energy. They won’t stop until they are removed. Are specific parts of your body cold? It is likely that you have one or more entities that are attached there and are draining you of energies, they take so much that you actually become cold, and even shivering in your own home. Your bodies battery is drained and empty! This includes cold hands, and arms, entire bodies, heads, feet, or any body part.
If a specific body part is cold, for example a right foot or shoulder, then those cold spots are the locations that the entities are attached to you.
Spirits will continue to drain you until they are removed!
Being Cold over your whole body is an indicator that the Dark Beings are taking your energy to feed themselves and to grow stronger. This is often accompanied by Foggy Brain, and inability to take action.
So there are two categories of cold spots… the first is attachment, they are actually attaching to you, and the second is where they are wholesale draining your energies.
The second ones show up very clearly during an actual healing session, as the entities need to draw upon the energies of the client to resist being removed. The entities strengthen themselves at the expense of the client. The simplest way to tell is needing to wear sweaters when everyone else is warm!
Here are some descriptions provided by clients on what they felt
- Coldness in chest. Having to wear sweaters, and use extra blankets to stay warm.
- Deep rooted chills throughout body. Shivering!
- Cold hands, and arms. One or both hands/arms.
- Cold legs, below the knees, feet and soles of feet.
- Hard to think, or take action, no energy.
- Goosebumps
- Cold spots on skin
- Being cold all the time
- Draining can happen at any point on the body, including shoulders, back, ect.
One of the strongest signs of being energy drained is when you build up sexual energy and you feel an energy lay down on top of you, or subtly slide on top of you, or beside you or envelope you. It happens as your sexual energy builds as they want to feed off of your sexual energy.
During these unpredictable times I have adopted a pricing policy of asking whatever amount is affordable for you. You get to choose the amount. What is important is that you get the help that you need.
Humans Can Also Drain Your Energies. Knowingly or Not!
Many people are familiar with the idea of cords between people. Cords can exist between any two people, even if they don’t know each other well… but especially if you do know the other person well or have been in a relationship with them. Most cords are harmless or can even be beneficial. As an example, we can tune in to the other person through our cords and know when they are in trouble or not.
There are also cords that are not helpful to you. These cords take from us. And most often they take our energies… our life force. When you get around someone and you feel tired and exhausted after meeting with them then you know that that person drained you of your life force energies. Likely without them even knowing they were doing it, and would very likely be surprised if you told them this. This is called unintentional Energy Vampirism, or being an Energy Vampire. It is a reflection of their Soul needing healing. But it is also a consequence of your Soul feeling obliged to give them your life force energies. The solution to this is to heal your Soul so it is no longer giving away your life force energy to others. Your Soul is supposed to work for your benefit, not necessarily to feed others out of some obligation of misunderstanding.
Spiritual Meaning of Burning Feet
The spiritual meaning of burning feet might be about an imbalanced path, a trial by fire, or a sign that a spiritual journey awaits.
When we experience a tingling or burning feeling in the feet, there are a few possible reasons why. Generally, burning or tingling in the feet is a circulatory issue, which could be caused by a disorder like Raynaud’s, diabetes, hypothyroidism, or an autoimmune disorder. Be sure to check out this symptom with your health practitioner. In addition to whatever treatment you follow, exploring the spiritual meaning of tingling or burning feet can offer interesting insights.
Do Burning Feet Signal a Spiritual Test?
One of the things burning feet brings to mind is firewalking—a time-honored tradition in many spiritual communities in which a person walks barefoot over hot coals. Firewalking can be an initiation, a test of faith, even a statement of commitment to a spiritual path. In response to a burning sensation in our soles, we can ask ourselves:
- How am I connected (or not) to my spirituality right now?
- Do I feel I am being tested?
- What are my deepest values? What motivates me every day?
- Am I living in alignment with those values?
- Am I being called to some change or new endeavor? Have I been listening to the call?
The Root Is on Fire
The soles of the feet are connected to the root chakra, which is primarily located around the perineum but runs down the legs into the feet. This is an energy center that relates to home, security, community, and finances.
The root chakra’s element is earth, and it is most in balance when it is calm, grounded, and rooted to the earth. When this area is tingling or burning, there’s a sense that all is not calm in the root chakra—there is fire in the earth element. Here we can ask ourselves:
- How am I relating to my home? The land I live on? The earth under my feet?
- Am I being called to change something about my foundation, whether that means body, home, or daily routine?
- Do I feel safe in my day-to-day life?
- Does something feel like it’s “on fire” in my life right now? Am I attending to that fire or letting it burn?
Circulation and Flow
When tingling anywhere in the body is related to a circulatory issue, we may want to consider how we relate to flow, spiritually or energetically. The blood is getting “stuck” at some point in the journey through your body or the blood vessels are constricting, for example. This feeling may be pointing to questions such as:
- Am I blocked right now, creatively or otherwise? Is something I am trying to do getting frustrated?
- Is this blockage or constriction coming from the inside or outside of me?
- Do I express my emotions freely and easily or do I hold them inside myself?
- What would I need to do to open the pathways to emotion, creativity, or sexuality in my body?
The Path Forward
The feet are, for most of us, the apparatus though which we move forward in the world, through which we find our path. When something feels out of balance in this area, we may think about what’s happening with the path we’re currently on and where we’re going in our lives. Here are some questions to ask to explore this spiritual meaning of burning feet:
- Where am I going in my life? What are my goals?
- Am I acting in alignment with my goals?
- Am I moving forward or stuck in one place?
- Is it clear to me what I want in my life?
If the path forward feels unclear or you’re not sure what you want, this would be the moment to slow down and spend some time thinking about that. Your feet are either unhappy about where you are going (or not going), or they are so excited to get started they are literally on fire.
So, when considering the path you want to move forward on, you may need to think about how to stay balanced on this path. What do you need to ensure your body is taken care of on this journey? What do you need to feel safe, secure, and supported as you move forward along this journey? How can you stay grounded even as you are moving, dreaming, hoping, and exploring?