Today's topic
Today on A.Vogel Talks Menopause, I'm going to be talking about four signs that may indicate you're not getting a good night's sleep in the menopause.
Menopause and poor sleep
Sleep is important for us any time, but especially during menopause for all sorts of different reasons. However, during menopause, there are so many things that can go wrong and so many things that can interfere with our sleep.
Several signs can indicate how well you are sleeping and if your sleep quality and quantity are being disrupted. Here are 4 main signs to look out for:
1. Your experiencing menopause symptoms that interfere with your sleep
When our oestrogen drops, this interferes with the way that we fall asleep and the way that we stay asleep. And very often, we're sleeping at a much shallower level. Therefore, all sorts of things can wake us up. That can interrupt our sleep and also prevent us from falling back to sleep as well.
We have stress and anxiety. If we are stressed, if we're anxious, that can stop us from getting to sleep easily. Many women can end up waking up early in the morning, around 3:00 or 4:00, and the stress palpitations suddenly kick in, and then you can't get back to sleep. So, you're getting a very short span of a good night's sleep.
It can be the bladder. Your bladder can become weaker during menopause, which means you may have to get up two or three times during the night just to go to the toilet.
We've got the infamous night sweats, which are probably one of the most common symptoms that will interrupt our sleep. Other symptoms which can distrupt your sleep include restless legs and hot burning feet.
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2. You're not getting enough sleep every night or it’s taking you longer to fall asleep
You need about 7 to 9 hours of sleep for your body to function at its best.1
However, during menopause, due to all the physical changes that are going on, your body often needs extra rest so sometimes, you're going to need more sleep. And if you're busy and not going to bed early enough, then that can have quite a big impact on the length of our sleep and also the quality of our sleep as well.
Also, it could be taking you longer to get off to sleep. The Sleep Council has researched this and they have found that if you can fall off to sleep within 10 to 15 minutes of getting into bed, then your quality of sleep can be quite good.
However, if it's taking you longer than 30 minutes to fall asleep, then your sleep efficiency, so that is the level at which your body can get proper rest, can drop quite dramatically.2
3. You regularly wake up during the night
Now, again, this can be due to things like going to the toilet, your night sweats wake you up, just waking or being in less of a deep sleep.
The problem is the more times you wake up, the more your whole sleep pattern is disrupted, and you don't get both the shallow sleep and the deep sleep. And we need both of those to have a healthy sleep. There's also the problem as well that if you do keep waking up and it takes you a long time to get back to sleep, again, you're getting less hours of much needed rest.
4. You feel tired in the morning, even after a full night's sleep
Now, this is really common. It could be because you are overly tired before you go to bed. If you're overly tired, very often, your brain goes into overdrive. Your nervous system goes into overdrive. And those two things will prevent you from getting a night of restful sleep.
You may find, too, that if you're worrying about things that you can experience more vivid dreams, much more action-packed dreams, or even nightmares. So, again, how we feel before we go to bed can have a big impact on how good or how bad our sleep is, at that particular time.
Know when to consult your doctor
Nearly everyone has an occasional sleepless night, but you are sleeping very, very badly most nights, then you should consult your doctor to rule out any underlying causes which could be causing your sleep problems, such as a condition called sleep apnoea. So if you're worried at all, just double-check with your doctor.
Tips to help you sleep better
So what can you do to help yourself sleep better during menopause? There are several things you can do to help yourself, these include:
Address the symptoms that are interfering with your sleep
IIf you're getting night sweats, or flushes, or heat surges in the middle of the night, then look at sage. Normally, one tablet taken with your evening meal is known to help to decrease night sweats and night heat temperature.
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If you find that you're getting restless legs, look at magnesium. If you find that your brain's going 10 to the dozen and you can't switch off when you get into bed, then you can look at one of the lovely flower essences, such as the Night Essence.
Get a good sleep routine going
Do that little bit of relaxing an hour before bed if you can. If you find that you're really struggling to get off to sleep, maybe just have a little read or listen to some nice, calming music just to set the scene.
And remember, if you like a bath or a shower before bed, don't have it too hot because, again, that can interfere with your temperature regulation and that might also be a trigger for your night sweats as well.
Don't use alcohol to help you sleep
Yes, it may help you to feel sleepy. But what happens is that it puts you in such a deep sleep and a short sleep that, again, you're not getting the benefit of a whole night's sleep so your quality of sleep will be affected.
No caffeine in the evening
Avoid drinking tea or coffee in the evening, because that can rev up your nervous system as well, which makes it harder to relax and switch off when it's time to go to bed.
So, look at all these things that you do in the evening and maybe just doing a few tweaks may make a lot of difference to your sleep at night.
My Self-Care Tip: Try our sleep remedy Dormeasan if you are struggling to get to sleep during menopause
You can add our sleep remedy Dormeasan® Valerian-Hops oral drops to a little water and take 30 minutes before bed. If you wake up in the middle of the night, you can also take a smaller dose just to help yourself get back off to sleep. Watch my self-care tip to find out more about Dormeasan.
Don't forget...
Again, if you're really worried about sleep, if it's beginning to impact on your health and your general well-being, if you've tried all the tips and find that they don't work, again, that's the point, please just go and check with your doctor to make sure that there's not maybe any other underlying health issues that are going to cause problems.
As usual, if any of you out there have any really good tips, if there are things that you've found have made such a difference to your sleep, then please share them. We would love to know.
Until next time, take care.
References
1. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need
2. https://sleepcouncil.org.uk/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-sleep/
