The impact of poor sleep during perimenopause and menopause
Sleep issues are very common in perimenopause and menopause. They often rank at number 3 on our top 10 list of symptoms. So many of you contact me, desperate to find some ways to help yourself to sleep better.
If you do not sleep well (even just a few poor nights' sleep), it can have a big impact on your daily life and your health. So, you imagine, if you're having weeks or months of disrupted sleep, or you're just not getting enough sleep, this is going to have such a big impact.
We know that poor sleep can affect your immune function, so you can end up becoming more vulnerable to all the bugs and things that are going around. You can just end up feeling generally unwell.
It can affect our moods. If you don't sleep well, you're going to be much more irritable the next day. Anger is a big thing too, and a lack of patience. So, all these emotional issues can be a big problem.
It can just be fatigue. If you don't sleep well just for one night, you're going to end up being really tired the next day. So again, night after night of poor sleep is going to have a cumulative effect on your energy levels.
It’s also known that poor sleep can disrupt the hormones that work on controlling our weight. There's so much research out there now looking at weight and poor sleep.
What causes poor sleep during perimenopause and menopause?
So, why are we more prone to having sleep problems in perimenopause and menopause? There can be a whole range of issues.
Oestrogen
Oestrogen, when we have enough of it, helps us to fall asleep quickly. And it helps to keep us in a nice, deep, steady sleep. And if we're in a good, steady sleep, both mind and body are restored and refreshed the next day. So, if your oestrogen is starting to tail off, you're going to find it much harder to fall asleep to start with.
Sleep disruptions
You're also going to be in a much shallower sleep, so all sorts of things can wake you up, like flushes, and sweats, noise from outside, and even something like your partner moving about in the bed can wake you up. So, you're going to get a much more disrupted night's sleep.
Blood sugar
What you eat and drink can have a huge impact on how you sleep. I very often talk about what happens to our blood sugar control during perimenopause and menopause - your blood sugar can dip during the night really quickly, triggering hot flushes, night sweats and palpitations. And when you get that adrenalin surge in the middle of the night, waking up suddenly, you're not aware that you're actually experiencing low blood sugar. So you're trying to get back to sleep, and your blood sugar levels are getting lower and lower, and that makes it harder and harder to fall asleep.
Night sweats
It can be just night sweats, generally. If you're getting these regularly, maybe two or three times every night, waking you up, if you're getting very wet, you're going to have to get up, you're going to have to get changed. And that process of getting up, putting the lights on, is going to rev your whole system up, and you're going to find it so hard to get back to sleep again.
Liver
It’s known too that the liver can interrupt sleep. So, if you wake up regularly between 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., that's the time when your liver is working very hard. So that energy around liver function, if you're not sleeping deeply, can wake you up as well.
Bladder issues
It could also be your bladder. If you're having to get up two or three times a night to go to the toilet, that's going to wake you up. If you've got to put the lights on, that revs your brain up again. And you're not going to get back to sleep easily.
One of the interesting things about getting up in the middle of the night with the bladder, is that it very often has to do with what's called an irritated bladder. So, you get up and have to go to the toilet. You only pass a little bit of urine. You go back to bed. Half an hour later, you want to go to the toilet again. So, this can cause huge disruption and poor sleep.
Anxiety and stress
It can be anxiety and stress. And who is not stressed and anxious at this moment in time? So, if you're already keyed up, worried, or anxious about something, your mind's going 20 to the dozen just as you're trying to get to sleep, so you can't get to sleep. Whatever you're worried about isn't being resolved.
Very often, you can end up dreaming about it, which is going to cause disrupted sleep as well. You then end up waking up the next morning in a state of anxiety, and that's going to have a huge impact on your whole day and your symptoms.
Tips to help yourself sleep better during perimenopause and menopause
Tips to help yourself sleep better during perimenopause and menopause
So, there's a whole raft of issues that can all play a big part in disrupting our sleep. But there are lots of simple things you can do to help yourself sleep better:
Try a herbal sleep supplement: One of the things you can look at is our lovely new sleep remedy called Sleep Well. This contains lemon balm. And lemon balm is known to help maintain a good night's sleep. It also contains magnesium. And those of you who've been following my blogs for a long time, know how much store I put in magnesium for being helpful for so many different things.
It also contains lettuce extract and L-tryptophan. It's in granule form. So, the great thing about this is you don't need to dilute it. It's not a pill that you have to take. Up to an hour before going to bed, you just put it straight onto your tongue and let it dissolve.
A.Vogel Sleep Well Dissolvable Granules | Pour Directly into Mouth | Bitter Orange Flavour
£15.99 (14 sachets x 2g) In Stock
Sage for night sweats: If you're getting night sweats, then you can look at our Menoforce Sage tablets, which are recommended to help with night sweats.
A good sleep hygiene routine: It's amazing, you know, how many of you are on your phones, on your computers, you're watching TV, right up until the time that you go to bed. That blue light, especially from your devices, is going to rev the brain up, and you're going to find it much more difficult going to sleep. So, try and have a quiet hour just before going to bed.
Diet: Limit your intake of caffeine, high-salt and sugar foods, fizzy drinks, and alcohol—all of these in the evening are going to disrupt your sleep.
I had one lady come back and tell me that all she did was stop her cup of coffee in the evening and her night sweats stopped within a week, and she said she was sleeping so much better. That's one simple thing to do.
So, look at what you're eating and drinking in the evening and maybe go for calming drinks. I've talked about Tulsi tea before, which is a lovely sleep drink that you can have. And don't have snacks like crisps just before you go to bed. Try and have a healthy snack instead, such as an oatcake and nut butter, or Greek yogurt and some berries, or nuts and seeds. They will help stabilise your blood sugar, and that can help you to stay asleep for longer as well.
Water: Dehydration during the day and in the evening, or if you're drinking things like tea, coffee, and alcohol, will irritate your bladder, and that can cause you to get up two or three times during the night.
Drink plenty of water during the day and have a shot glass of warm water just before you go to bed. This is going to keep you hydrated, but it's not going to put a lot of pressure on your bladder. The reason I recommend warm water is that if you take a really cold drink just before you go to bed, it can disrupt or upset your digestion. So, a little glass of warm water can make a huge amount of difference.
Relax before bed: Try and do some deep breathing when you're in bed. If you find that falling asleep is an issue, just do some deep breathing. And the other thing, which a lot of you tell me helps if you're anxious and worried, is to write everything down before you go to bed. Get it out of your system before you go to bed. You may find that you sleep better and you're not going to wake up in that state of anxiety.
So, I hope you found this one helpful. It's such a huge issue, but a good night's sleep is worth its weight in gold. If any of you have any other really good tips that have worked well for you, you know how much I love reading your stories and tips, and please share them to help others as well.
And until next time, take care and have a lovely week.
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