Why menopause could be behind your poor sleep
With 30-60% of women suffering from insomnia symptoms when going through menopause, if you’ve found yourself spending more time awake at night as you reach this stage of life, you’re not alone.
We’ve all heard of hot flushes occurring as a symptom of the menopause, and these are a frequent cause of nighttime awakenings, but you may be surprised to hear that there are evidence based and NHS recommended techniques which can help you to improve your sleep during this time.
Although we can’t stop the effects of hormones and the menopause when it comes to interrupting our sleep, we can minimise the impact it has on us. Instead of hot flushes and bad sleep turning our bed into a place of panic as we try to cool ourselves down and get some quality sleep, we can look at techniques to ensure we have a strong sleep drive, helping us wake less in the night and more importantly, learn how to get back to sleep quickly when we do.
Poor sleep due to menopause also causes extra stress and anxiety, in what is potentially already an anxiety provoking time. With the correct techniques, you can learn how to manage your symptoms of anxiety and panic which will in turn help you to sleep better,
There are many sleep aids and sleep hygiene tips on the internet, but the reality is that we don’t actually need any of these things to sleep well. The likes of chamomile teas, sleep sprays and eye masks can even get in the way and take the focus off something which is actually a very natural process.
CBT for insomnia (CBT-i) is an NHS recommended course of treatment that helps people understand what they need to sleep well and changes their habits and behaviours to promote better quality of sleep. With recommended techniques, up to 80% of people see improved sleep, often in under four weeks.
Repeatedly shown to help menopausal women improve their sleep, and what I practice with The Insomnia Clinic, CBT-i uses techniques which will increase the body’s natural drive to sleep better and also reduce the worry and anxiety attached to poor sleep.
So here are my top tips for improving sleep during menopause:
1. Don't spend too long in bed. The first thing we do when we can't sleep is start going to bed earlier to try and increase our hours of sleep. Reduce the amount of time you spend in bed awake, go to bed later and get up earlier, this will encourage your body’s natural sleep drive to kick in. By reducing the time you spend in bed you will crave more sleep, fall asleep faster and find your quality of sleep improving
2. Stop watching the clock. If you are waking from hot flushes then it’s very tempting to look at the clock every time to monitor how little sleep you are getting however, this increases the pressure to fall back to sleep and makes it less likely. Set your alarm for the morning then avoid looking at the time again
3. Don't lie in bed awake. If you can't get to sleep or have woken in the middle of the night due to a hot flush, get out of bed. The longer we lie in bed trying to fall back to sleep, the more frustrated we get. This means we begin to subconsciously relate bed to feeling stressed and being awake rather than asleep. Leave the bedroom and do something relaxing like reading a book in another room, then when you are tired go back to bed
4. Learn how to manage your worries about sleep. The worst thing you can do is worry, as worrying about sleep is worse than not sleeping. Try to find ways during the days to increase energy such as fresh air, daylight and healthy food as menopause can be a difficult time so don’t expect too much from your sleep.
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