I might have to take a good long sitdown with this one since it contains enough information about what to avoid when I’m old and gray and grumpy.

A new study found out that women who gain weight during their middle age may have worst hot flashes as they are approaching their menopausal stage. For four years, scientists measured the hormone levels of more than 1,600 women, ages 47 to 59, together with their body fat percentage and frequency of hot flashes.

What they found out is that women who gained weight were 1.23 times “more likely to report hot flashes.” The link was ironclad even when hormone levels were considered.

The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, also found out that 53 percent of women gained weight in the span of the four-year experiment while 24 percent slimmed down and 23 percent stayed the same.