With an estimated 85 percent of women experiencing hot flashes as they approach menopause, finding effective non-medication treatment is vitally important.

A new Baylor University study shows hypnotic relaxation therapy can decrease the frequency and severity of hot flashes in menopausal women.

Interference from hot flashes, like loss of sleep and social interaction difficulties, also significantly decreased in the majority of women who received hypnosis.

The research was published online this week in The Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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“This study validates that this type of treatment is effective in decreasing hot flashes,” said Dr. Gary Elkins, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor and a lead investigator on the project.

“There is a real need to study emerging mind-body interactions to treating these ailments because many times medications are not an option.”

In the study, 26 women who are breast cancer survivors received hypnotic relaxation therapy and were compared to 25 other breast cancer survivors who did not receive treatment.

The women who received hypnosis reported a 68 percent decrease in hot flashes. Anxiety, depression and insomnia also decreased.

Breast cancer survivors were chosen because the medications that are given to these women to help prevent the reoccurrence of breast cancer often times cause them to go into menopause in a matter of days.

Furthermore, hormone replacement therapy is not an option because of an increased risk of breast cancer recurrence associated with hormone therapy, thus creating a need for alternative mind-body treatments. 

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