I rarely "flash" now, but usually what triggered it for me was either stress or alcohol... not even bad stress necessarily, but definitely emotion could do it for me. Wine or any alcohol would trigger a serious hot flash, and sometimes still does. Thankfully not chocolate though, egads! Sipping cold water usually helped me tremendously. My mother complained so loud and long when she had hot flashes and I was determined not to be like that. I think she suffered longer because she complained about it so much and made such a big deal out of it when it happened. Of course, she lives in Florida, so probably was somewhat worse for her.