Cooling sheets and duvets: what keeps a bed cool in menopause
Cooling sheets and duvets for night sweats: what studies say about fibre, percale versus sateen, what a tog means, layering a bed and sharing one.
For women in perimenopause and menopause
Night sweats, hot flashes and sleep
Plain answers about the night side of menopause, each health fact linked to the NHS, NIH or ACOG page it came from.
Start with what woke you
Hot flashes at night
Why the heat tends to come in the small hours, how night flashes change from perimenopause to the years after, and what NIA and the NHS suggest for the bedroom.
7 articles
Night sweats
Waking soaked: what counts, the signs that point away from menopause, what helps at night and when to see a doctor.
2 articles
Insomnia and 3am waking
Trouble falling asleep, waking at 4am with no way back to sleep, and the habits the National Institute on Aging suggests.
11 articles
A cooler bedroom
Room temperature, layered bedding, a fan, what to wear to bed and the evening habits that make hot nights easier.
3 articles
Tracking and your doctor
Keeping a simple record of your nights and bringing it to your next appointment, so the conversation starts from facts.
3 articles
Newest articles
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Her Good Days: a free app for logging night sweats and sleep
What the free Her Good Days app logs (hot flashes, night sweats, sleep, periods, medication), what its weekly view and doctor PDF show, what it costs and where to get it.
Hot feet at night in menopause: why soles burn after dark
Can hot flashes reach your feet? What the studies measured, why feet heat up at bedtime anyway, the other causes of burning feet the NHS lists, and when to see a GP.
Sleep efficiency calculator: how much of your time in bed is sleep
Enter a week of bed and wake times, time to fall asleep and time awake. Get sleep efficiency per night, the week's average and what CBT-I's 85% mark means.
Anxiety at night in perimenopause
Why anxiety and low mood in perimenopause often feel worse after dark, how they tie in with hot flashes and broken sleep, what helps at 3am and when to see a GP.
Bedtime wind-down planner: your evening, timed from NIA and NHS sleep habits
Enter your bedtime and wake time, tick your evening habits and get a printable evening plan: last coffee, last drink, dinner, exercise, screens and a cool room.
The short version
Why nights get harder in midlife
A hot flash is a sudden rush of heat to the face, neck and chest that lasts from a few seconds to several minutes. When one comes during sleep and leaves you damp with sweat, it is usually called a night sweat. ACOG also lists the sleep changes that come with perimenopause: trouble falling asleep, and waking long before your usual time.
The order is not always what it seems. The National Institute on Aging notes research suggesting that waking may itself set off a hot flash. And the NHS puts the usual run of menopause symptoms at 7 to 9 years, sometimes longer, which is why it is worth getting the bedroom and the habits right rather than waiting it out.
Before your appointment
Two weeks of notes say more than a tired summary
The National Institute on Aging suggests noting what sets off your hot flashes and how much they bother you. Write down bedtime, wake time, each waking and whether a flash or a sweat came with it, and rate each symptom as mild, moderate or severe. A doctor can work with that.
- Bedtime, wake time and how many times you woke
- Each hot flash or night sweat, with the time and how bad it was
- Alcohol, caffeine and late meals on the evenings before
- Any new medicine, and the day you started it
How we work
Why you can check everything here
Sources you can open
Every health fact links to the page it came from: the NHS, the National Institute on Aging, ACOG, The Menopause Society, NICE, or a published study. If we cannot link it, we leave it out.
No treatment advice
We explain what the health services say and what to ask. Decisions about hormone therapy, medicines and supplements belong with your doctor, so we do not recommend any. Our editorial policy sets out the rest.
Who writes
Articles are written by Claire Holloway and checked by the editors against their sources. Spot a mistake? Tell us and we will correct the page with a dated note.