Night Sweats and Hot Flashes During Cancer Treatment: Sleeping Cooler Through It

If you are reading this in the middle of treatment, or caring for someone who is, I want to start by saying something simple. This is hard. Cancer asks so much of you already, and then the nights bring their own version of it. You wake up soaked, throw off the covers, and pull them back an hour later. You deserve rest, and I am sorry that rest has gotten complicated.

I want to be clear about what this article is and is not. I run a sleepwear company, so I know a fair amount about staying cooler and drier at night. I do not know anything about your diagnosis, your treatment plan, or what is right for your body. Nothing here treats hot flashes or night sweats, and nothing here replaces the guidance of your oncology team. Please think of this as comfort support for the nights, offered gently, from one person to another.

Why cancer treatment can bring hot flashes and night sweats

Hot flashes and night sweats are common during and after cancer treatment, and they show up for a few different reasons. The National Cancer Institute lists them as a known effect of several therapies, and the American Cancer Society describes them as a frequent side effect that can affect quality of life and sleep. You are not imagining it, and you are far from alone in it. Cancer treatment is one of many possible triggers, and if you want the wider picture, our overview of night sweats causes in women and when to see a doctor walks through the full range.

Here are some of the reasons your care team may point to.

• Anti-estrogen medicines. Drugs like tamoxifen, often used in breast cancer treatment, are commonly associated with hot flashes and night sweats.
• Aromatase inhibitors. This group of hormone therapies can also bring on flashes and sweating.
• Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Hormone therapy used in prostate cancer treatment frequently causes hot flashes and night sweats.
• Treatment-induced menopause. Some treatments bring on menopause more suddenly than it would arrive on its own, and that abrupt change can make hot flashes and night sweats feel especially intense.

The common thread in much of this is hormones. Many cancer treatments work by lowering or blocking estrogen or testosterone, and those same hormones help your body manage its internal thermostat. When they shift quickly, your temperature regulation can get thrown off, and the result often lands at night. Cancer therapies are not the only medicines that can do this, and if you take other prescriptions too, our piece on medications that cause night sweats may be a useful thing to review with your care team.

Please bring this to your care team first

I mean this sincerely, and I want it to sit right here in the middle of the article rather than tucked at the bottom. If hot flashes and night sweats are disrupting your sleep, tell your oncology team. Sleep is not a small thing during treatment, and they would genuinely want to know.

Your care team can look at what is causing your symptoms in the context of your specific treatment, and they have real options to discuss with you. Please do not start, stop, or change any medication or therapy on your own, and be gentle with any advice you read online, including mine. The people who know your case are the right people to guide management. What I can offer sits alongside their care, never in place of it: ways to make the bed and the bedroom a little kinder while you go through this.

Gentle ways to make the nights more comfortable

None of these will treat your symptoms or change what your body is doing. What they can do is help you feel cooler and drier and a bit more comfortable when a sweat comes, so the night is easier to move through. Small comforts count for a lot right now.

Cool the room down

A cooler bedroom gives your body less to fight. Sleep researchers often point to a range around 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit as comfortable for sleep, in part because your core temperature naturally dips as you drift off. If that feels too cool for you, adjust to what your body wants. A fan nearby moves air across your skin and can help a damp night feel less heavy. Keep a glass of water within reach so you do not have to fully wake to find one.

Choose bedding that breathes

Heavy, trapping layers work against you on a sweaty night. Reach for breathable, natural-feeling bedding, and consider building your bed in light layers you can peel back and pull up without a whole production at 3 a.m. A dry backup pillowcase and a folded towel within arm's reach can save you from a full sheet change when a sweat passes.

Wear sleepwear made to move moisture

What sits against your skin all night matters, especially when your skin may already be tender from treatment. Cotton feels soft, but once it is damp it tends to stay damp and cling, which can leave you chilled after a flash passes. This is the one place a company like mine can genuinely help with comfort.

Our Cool-jams NightCool line is made with Kottinu, a moisture-wicking fabric that pulls sweat away from your skin and dries quickly, so you spend less of the night in something cold and clammy. It is our most performance-minded fabric for the sweatiest nights. If you would rather have something extra soft and light against sensitive skin, our Cool-jams BambooSoft pieces are made from viscose from bamboo and feel breathable. To be completely honest with you, sleepwear is a comfort tool and nothing more. It will not stop a hot flash or a night sweat. It can just make one more bearable while you rest, and some nights that is the win.

Ease into the night

A calm wind-down helps your whole system settle. A warm (not hot) shower an hour or two before bed can actually help your body cool down afterward as your temperature comes back down, which some people find eases them toward sleep. Loose, light layers, a dim room, and a little quiet before lights-out all give your nervous system permission to rest. If worry is keeping you up, and of course it might be, that is worth mentioning to your care team too, because they can point you toward real support.

Be tender with yourself

Some nights will still be rough, and that is not a failure on your part. Your body is doing enormous work right now, and interrupted sleep during treatment is common and understandable. On the nights it happens, try to meet yourself with the same patience you would offer a friend. Keep dry things close, keep the room cool, and let yourself rest whenever rest comes, even if it arrives in pieces.

You are carrying a great deal. If a cooler room, breathable bedding, and sleepwear that keeps you drier make even one night a little softer, I am glad. And please, lean on your care team. They are your best guide through all of this, and they want to help you rest.

Sending you comfort and steady nights ahead.

Sandra, Brand Owner

Sources

1. National Cancer Institute (PDQ). "Hot Flashes and Night Sweats." cancer.gov. (Hot flashes and night sweats as effects of cancer treatments, including anti-estrogens, aromatase inhibitors, androgen deprivation therapy, and treatment-induced menopause.)
2. American Cancer Society. "Managing Hot Flashes and Sweating." cancer.org. (Hot flashes and sweating as a common treatment side effect affecting sleep and quality of life.)
3. Sleep Foundation. "Best Temperature for Sleep." sleepfoundation.org. (Cooler bedroom around 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit and the natural core-temperature drop at sleep onset.)
4. Haghayegh S, et al. "Before-bedtime passive body heating and sleep." Sleep Medicine Reviews, 2019. sciencedirect.com. (A warm shower or bath one to two hours before bed and its effect on cooling and sleep.)
5. Breastcancer.org. "Menopause and Menopausal Symptoms." breastcancer.org. (Treatment-induced menopause is usually more sudden, and its symptoms more severe, than menopause that happens naturally.)