hot flushes in a warming world – how rising temperatures are intensifying menopause symptoms – A greener life, a greener world

By Anders Lorenzen

As October marks Menopause Awareness Month, while the days grow shorter and temperatures drop, the focus often turns to keeping warm and warding off seasonal depression. Yet for many women, heat remains an unwelcome companion — even through the colder months.

As Europe’s summers grow longer and hotter, millions of women entering menopause are discovering an unexpected front in the climate crisis: their own bodies. For those already living with night sweats, insomnia, and temperature spikes, rising global heat adds another, often invisible, layer of discomfort and risk.

Europe’s extreme heat trends

The summer of 2025 was another reminder that extreme heat is now a defining feature of Europe’s climate. Northern regions, including the UK, Germany, and the Nordic countries, have seen record-breaking heat in homes ill-suited to it. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2024 and 2025 rank among the continent’s hottest years on record — and nights are warming fastest.

How extreme heat impacts women’s ability to regulate temperature

Medical experts have long known that declining oestrogen levels affect the body’s ability to regulate heat. But what happens when that baseline is already shifting due to climate change? 

A study published in The Lancet Planetary Health suggests that prolonged exposure to high night-time temperatures can worsen sleep disturbance and fatigue — symptoms already common during menopause.

Emerging studies from Australia, Spain and the US indicate that menopausal women are particularly vulnerable to heat stress, dehydration, and cardiovascular strain during heatwaves. 

Research by the United Nations (UN) body, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Department of Environment and Health noted that we are only beginning to understand how climate impacts interact with women’s physiology.

Feels like a double heatwave

Unlike southern Europe, where thick walls, shutters and siestas evolved to counter the sun, much of northern Europe still relies on poorly ventilated, heat-trapping housing. Air conditioning remains rare, and public health advice for heat adaptation is limited. The result: a “double heatwave” — one internal, one external — for menopausal women.

The temperature regulation challenge

During menopause, the body’s thermostat becomes hypersensitive to even small temperature shifts, leading to hot flushes, night sweats and disrupted sleep. When outside air remains stiflingly warm, the body’s capacity to cool itself diminishes further. Studies show that sustained heat exposure can lengthen and intensify hot flush episodes.

An overlooked gendered impact

While climate change is increasingly recognised as a public health emergency, its intersection with menopause is rarely discussed. Most national and corporate heatwave plans prioritise infants, outdoor workers, and those with pre-existing medical conditions. 

Yet millions of midlife women — managing hormonal shifts, careers, and caregiving — remain largely invisible in climate adaptation policy.

Some clinicians in the UK report patients describing more severe symptoms during heatwaves, but few studies link these experiences to environmental factors. 

Research from the UK Government’s Menopause and the Workplace report highlights that midlife women are largely absent from climate and workplace heatwave planning.

Beyond biology: inequality and adaptation

The burden isn’t shared equally. Women in urban heat islands, those living in older or poorly insulated homes, and those with limited access to healthcare experience greater physical and mental strain. 

Southern Europe, despite higher baseline heat, benefits from cultural and architectural adaptation — shaded courtyards, siesta hours, and community awareness. Northern Europe, by contrast, has been largely unprepared for sustained heat.

Women are paying the price of inaction

In a climate increasingly defined by extremes, menopausal women are among those paying the price of policy inaction. The north’s focus on winter preparedness — insulation, heating, flood defence — has left a gap in strategies for heat resilience. As climate patterns shift, this gap is becoming a gendered health issue as much as an environmental one.

Rethinking health resilience in a warming world

Translating what experts have called for in terms of climate-aware healthcare  approaches that recognise how environmental stress amplifies physiological stress would for menopause include:

• designing cooler clinics and workspaces
• integrating heat-adaptive lifestyle advice
• ensuring sustainable, affordable cooling in homes and offices
• Simple, low-carbon measures — from night ventilation to breathable natural fibres and tree-shaded streets — make tangible differences. These solutions connect personal wellbeing with planetary resilience.

A moment to rethink resilience

In the broader sustainability story, menopause offers both a metaphor and a warning. It’s a natural transition that tests resilience, balance and adaptation. So too does the climate crisis. Both demand that we listen to the body’s signals — and act before the heat becomes unbearable.

Anders Lorenzen is the founding Editor of A greener life, a greener world.