Dawn Klingensmith wrote an interesting article for philly.com regarding the relationship between menopause and heart disease. This is relevant because if you’re suffering from menopause night sweats you should really consider discussing this revelation with your physician. As Dawn details:

Hormonal changes preceding menopause are known to cause hot flashes, night sweats, irritability and loss of libido. Now, new research suggests shifting hormone levels puts certain women at risk for cardiovascular disease – and the so-called “male” hormone, testosterone, is to blame.

Estrogen levels nosedive as a woman transitions into menopause, so the naturally occurring testosterone in her body eventually predominates. Testosterone exists in either a bound or “free” state. Bound testosterone is partnered with a protein that renders it inactive, while free – or bioavailable -testosterone is at liberty to “cause some action” in the body, says lead investigator Imke Janssen, a statistician at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago. As her study shows, free testosterone might also cause some trouble.

It had already been established that women tend to develop cardiovascular disease 10 years later than men, with a marked increase throughout the menopausal years. In fact, women older than 55 are more likely than men to have the disease.

Read more: The Menopause and Heart Disease Connection Edit: I’m afraid this article is no longer online. I’ll research and write my own on the matter soon, then I’ll update you here as well.