Why You’re Tossing and Turning Without Getting Rest!
It is vital for any human being to get enough sleep. And menopause is a time when sleeplessness often starts.
You probably suspect that sleep and menopause are related and here we will give you the reasons for your sleep problems.
Your symptoms can include one or several of the following problems:
- You can’t fall asleep
- You wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep
- You don’t sleep long enough and wake up to early
- You think you slept through the night but feel still feel tired
Researchers have found that women’s insomnia is different than men’s. And female hormones can explain at least part of this difference. Your sleep problems may be caused by:
- Changing hormone levels
- Stress
- Night Sweats (sometimes together with heart palpitations and anxiety attacks)
- Vivid dreams or nightmares.
- Frequent trips to the bathroom
- Depression and anxiety (either as the result or the cause of insomnia)
- Medications
- Sleep Apnea (mostly post menopause)
Actually insomnia is a very common menopause symptom. But as you are probably not just interested in finding out why you can’t sleep,
just follow the link at the end of the page to find the best treatments for your insomnia.
As you have probably heard, humans spend about 1/3 of their lives asleep. Sleep is a required function and sleep deprivation can literally drive people insane. Adequate sleep is important for your cognitive and physical functions – that is the reason that you feel so “out of it” when you don’t get enough sleep.
Every living thing has a internal clock that determines the ebb and flow of biological activity. In humans, the most important of these internal clocks is the circadian rhythm which runs roughly 24 hours.
The circadian rhythm determines certain functions such as sleep / wake cycle, body temperature, release of specific hormones and many more. Hormone changes can alter your circadian rhythm which is but one of the many reasons for menopause insomnia.
The relationship between sleep and menopause hormones is still being studied but some results are beginning to emerge. During sleep, both follicle stimulating (FSH), and luteinizing hormones (LH) are released. These hormones in turn stimulate the production of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone in women.
Very simply stated, when your hormones fluctuate rapidly as is the case in perimenopause, your sleep suffers. Waking up in the middle of the night and waking up too early are common symptoms of pre menopause insomnia. Difficulties falling asleep are common throughout the menopause transition and are probably linked to estrogen levels.
Post menopause is the time when sex hormones stay permanently low. But other hormones that are important for a restful sleep are also declining with age.
Sleep apnea is common in post menopausal women which results in feeling tired despite the impression that you have slept through the night. Sleep apnea, abnormal pauses in breathing, is linked to low levels of progesterone which affects the activity of the dilator muscle of the pharynx. (The pharynx is the part of your throat that is right behind your tongue and above in the esophagus.)
Insomnia and menopause are linked through a variety of hormones and both estrogen and progesterone play a role in insomnia. And menopause is a time when these hormones decline rapidly. The exact role of estrogen is still up for debate but natural progesterone, taken right before bedtime, can help with menopause insomnia.
Sleep and menopause are also linked through the natural fluctuation of your body temperature. Normal body temperature declines as it gets dark.
During menopause, hormone fluctuations trigger responses (in the form of night sweats and hot flashes) to even the smallest changes in your normal body temperature. So your menopause hormone changes affect not only the relationship of your body temperature to your sleep cycle, it also causes night sweats – a double whammy.
Darkness also triggers the release of melatonin, which makes you sleepy. The amount of melatonin declines with age and makes you more sensitive to slight disturbances. This is one of the reasons for menopausal women to wake up so easy during the night.
Any kind of light inhibits the melatonin production. Even turning the light on when you have to go to the bathroom can trigger hormonal reactions that shift your circadian cycle by over 30 minutes.
Sleep problems often result in anxiety when you toss and turn which causes the release of adrenalin. Adrenalin in turn makes you alert which prevents you to fall asleep again. If this is a problem for you, Valerian (especially with hops) is a very good natural remedy.
So no matter the causes and effects of problems with sleep and menopause, insomnia starts a vicious cycle of symptoms that negatively affects your daily life.
Now that you understand the relationship between sleep and menopause, what can you do to sleep again?