Blog — Heat Waves

Cortisol should increase around %50 in the first 30 minutes on awakening then start to progressively drop the remainder of the day. Three, rather than one, early morning collections are what is needed to accurately assess the CAR; one immediately on waking, one 30 minutes later, and another at 1 hour. Diurnal Rhythm Assessment Thirty minutes after awakening from a good night's sleep, cortisol levels are at the highest they'll be all day. Following the morning peak, cortisol levels then fall to less than half that peak level by noon. They continue to drop to very low levels at night where...

I remember the uncertain winter of my entrance into perimenopause so well. It began in my late 40s, with hot flashes that came on like heat waves every half hour. In the dead of winter, I found myself flinging open windows to let in the freezing air; I soon found out that having hot flashes in winter was nothing like having them in summer, when the added heat and humidity made them feel more like mini-meltdowns.   How to Cool Down without Melting Down Perimenopause is a hormonally challenged transition during which the ovaries gradually begin to make less estrogen and progesterone; it...