7 Natural Remedies for Hot Flashes and Night Sweats During Menopause
MenopauseManaging Hot Flashes During Menopause

7 Natural Remedies for Hot Flashes and Night Sweats During Menopause

7 Natural Remedies for Hot Flashes and Night Sweats During Menopause
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Updated on March 10, 2026
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If you had to sum up menopause with one word, it would probably be “hot.” After all, hot flashes and night sweats — known as vasomotor symptoms, because they involve the dilation of blood vessels — get the lion’s share of attention when it comes to menopause symptoms.

And with good reason: More than 80 percent of women deal with both as they transition to menopause, according to the Menopause Society.

Medication, such as estrogen and even certain antidepressants, can help. But not everyone needs — or wants — to pop a pill to fend off menopause symptoms. That’s where more natural approaches to managing hot flashes and night sweats can come in handy.

1. Commit to Cardio Exercise

Turns out what’s good for your heart can also be good for menopausal misery. “Exercise almost always improves symptoms and overall well-being,” says Cynthia Flynn, MD, a board-certified ob-gyn in Daytona Beach, Florida. This is especially true of aerobic or sustained activities, such as walking. Research backs that up: A study published in Menopause found that regularly doing aerobic and resistance exercise — among other forms of moderate intensity physical activity — may help reduce instances of hot flashes. However, more research on the topic is needed to pinpoint specifics on how much exercise, how often, and what intensity level is helpful for changes in the experience of hot flashes.

2. Try HIIT Workouts

High-intensity interval training (HIIT), which alternates stints of hard and easy activity, could help your body fight vasomotor symptoms by training it to respond more quickly to the dilation and constriction of blood vessels. This is key for rapidly off-loading heat, according to Stacy Sims, PhD, a physiologist who specializes in female-athlete performance and the author of Next Level, a guide to fitness for women in menopause or postmenopause.

Plus, HIIT increases your body temperature. As a result, the hypothalamus (part of your brain) learns to react better to sudden, intense temperature changes. A workout lasts around 30 minutes or less and uses intervals of 60 to 120 seconds with 1:1 or 2:1 work-to-rest ratios, so you’re either working and resting the same amount or working twice as long as you’re resting.

3. Take a Yoga Class

Night sweats can make it hard to get a good night’s sleep. Yoga may help. A study published in 2022 in Nursing & Health Sciences found that women who practiced yoga for 20 weeks got better sleep.

 Furthermore, a meta-analysis published in the International Journal of Nursing Studies in January 2025 concluded that in addition to improving sleep among women with menopause, yoga also improved depressive symptoms, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure.

4. Lift Weights

In addition to strength training being an effective strategy for keeping your bones strong, this form of exercise is also helpful for reducing hot flashes and night sweats. A 2023 review and meta-analysis published in Menopause concluded that resistance training promotes a reduction in hot flashes better than no exercise intervention.

5. Eat More Soy

Soy contains isoflavones, which are essentially plant-based estrogen. One of these isoflavones, daidzein, is converted by gut bacteria into a compound called equol, which has been shown to reduce the severity and frequency of hot flashes.

Case in point: One study, published in 2021 in Menopause, found that when women added a half cup of cooked soybeans to their low-fat, vegan diet every day for 12 weeks, their hot flashes decreased by 79 percent. What’s more, most of the women stopped having hot flashes rated moderate to severe. You can find soy in tofu, miso, edamame, and soy milk.

6. Consider a Black Cohosh Supplement

Many supplements are touted for menopause symptom relief. One in particular that may be worth trying is black cohosh, a plant native to North America. The supplement rarely eliminates symptoms completely, Dr. Flynn says, but previous research has found that it reduced the number and severity of hot flashes among menopausal women.

 Talk to your doctor before trying black cohosh (or any supplement), because it may cause side effects or interfere with certain medications, such as statins.

7. Meditate

If you don’t already meditate, menopause may be a good time to start. The mindfulness practice may help reduce the number of hot flashes you experience, according to research.

 Meditation can help activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the part of your body that helps you relax, says Dr. Sims.

Need help getting started? Try one of the many forms of meditation to see which suits you best.

The Takeaway

  • Night sweats and hot flashes are among the many side effects of the menopausal transition. While you may not be able to fully avoid all sweaty episodes, certain lifestyle habits are expert- and research-backed for reducing how often and severely they come on.
  • Doing workouts like like cardio, HIIT, yoga, and resistance training; eating soy; taking certain supplements; and practicing mindfulness may help reduce night sweats and hot flashes among women in menopause.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Hot Flashes. The Menopause Society. 2026.
  2. Witkowski S et al. Physical Activity and Exercise for Hot Flashes: Trigger or Treatment? Menopause. February 1, 2024.
  3. Susanti H et al. Effects of yoga on menopausal symptoms and sleep quality across menopause statuses: a randomized controlled trial. Nursing & Health Sciences. February 21, 2022.
  4. Wang H et al. The effectiveness of yoga on menopausal symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. International Journal of Nursing Studies. January 2025.
  5. Martins S et al. Resistance training for postmenopausal women: systematic review and meta-analysis. Menopause. January 2023.
  6. Neal B et al. The Women’s Study for the Alleviation of Vasomotor Symptoms (WAVS): a randomized, controlled trial of a plant-based diet and whole soybeans for postmenopausal women. Menopause. October 2021.
  7. Mehrpooya M et al. A comparative study on the effect of “black cohosh” and “evening primrose oil” on menopausal hot flashes. Journal of Education and Health Promotion. March 1, 2018.
  8. Sung M et al. A potential association of meditation with menopausal symptoms and blood chemistry in healthy women. Medicine. September 4, 2020.
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Kara Smythe, MD

Medical Reviewer

Kara Smythe, MD, has been working in sexual and reproductive health for over 10 years. Dr. Smythe is a board-certified fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and her interests include improving maternal health, ensuring access to contraception, and promoting sexual health.

She graduated magna cum laude from Florida International University with a bachelor's degree in biology and earned her medical degree from St. George’s University in Grenada. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. She worked in Maine for six years, where she had the privilege of caring for an underserved population.

Smythe is also passionate about the ways that public health policies shape individual health outcomes. She has a master’s degree in population health from University College London and recently completed a social science research methods master's degree at Cardiff University. She is currently working on her PhD in medical sociology. Her research examines people's experiences of accessing, using, and discontinuing long-acting reversible contraception.

When she’s not working, Smythe enjoys dancing, photography, and spending time with her family and her cat, Finnegan.

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Karen Asp

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Karen Asp is an award-winning journalist who covers fitness, health, nutrition, pets, and travel. A former contributing editor for Woman’s Day, she writes regularly for numerous publications, including Women's Health, Woman's Day, O: The Oprah Magazine, Prevention, Real Simple, Reader's Digest, Better Homes and Gardens, Martha Stewart Living, Forks Over Knives, VegNews, Weight Watchers, Oxygen, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, Sierra, USA Today and its magazines, Cosmopolitan, Delta Sky, Costco Connection, Eating Well, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, Parade, Runner's World, SELF, Shape, WebMD, Allure, and Best Friends, to name a couple of dozen.

Karen is the author of Anti-Aging Hacks and coauthor of Understanding Your Food Allergies & Intolerances. She speaks frequently about healthy living on radio shows and podcasts, as well as on live TV. She is a certified personal trainer, a health educator certified in plant-based nutrition, and a plant-powered athlete who holds several world records in Nordic walking.

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