Oh, Elusive Sleep!
Oh, Elusive Sleep!
Many women report that they could sleep so well before they hit their peri-menopausal years and then out of nowhere night time wakings start to occur - either with or without nightsweats.
Sleep is so important to our health. I know that knowing this doesn’t help! When we sleep deeply we are able to biologically reset our systems that allow our immune system to rejuvenate our cells – the repair that occurs during sleep is important to every aspect of your life. Unhappy sleep is awful in many ways, affecting your focus and attention, making you more likely to overeat or feel depressed. Sleep deprivation is linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and strokes so mastering your sleep will make it easier to balance your hormones, muster the willpower to make better choices and, ultimately, offset bad health incidences and lengthen your healthspan.
Firstly, the good news – you can change the way you sleep and improve your sleep-wake cycles that are essential to your health. The bad news is that you cannot get through the week on little sleep and think that you can catch up on the weekend – it doesn’t work like that, although a 20 minute afternoon nap, if you are sleep deprived can be quite healing - if this is something that you can fit into your day. Unfortunately for most of us, our western lifestyles don’t allow for this luxury!
The official definition of sleep deprivation is when a person gets insufficient sleep to maintain good wakefulness during the day, and this of course varies from one individual to the next. If you think undersleeping if not a problem for you and that you are naturally a short sleeper that performs just fine on six hours of sleep, the truth is that only 3% of us have the gene that allows for this, the rest of us need between 7 and 8.5 hours a night.
While quantity of sleep matters, so does quality. There are two types of sleep: rapid-eye-movement (REM) and non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM). NREM is further divided into stages 1,2 3 and 4, indicating spectrum of relative depth. You need your REM sleep for emotional regeneration and your NREM sleep for physical regeneration. Most of us in perimenopause unfortunately start to have a reduced amount of NREM sleep (deep sleep) this is when the heart rate lowers, organs, muscles and bones rebuild, energy and willpower reserves get replenished and your immune system resets. Your sleep is most restorative when it consists of all stages occurring at 90-120 minutes cycles through the night.
So what can we do to promote this to happen?
For peri-menopausal and menopausal women there are some basics that are best adhered to:
Try to maintain a room temperature of 18 degrees or less to minimise temperature disturbance, I know this can be challenging during the summer but keeping a window open or investing in a fan or cooler can help.
Address your hot flushes and night sweats. You may wish to consider short term bio-identical hormones or HRT, or specifically a natural progesterone which is known to help at this time of life.
Keep your bedroom free of all electronics (or at least 5 feet away from your body an hour before bed).
For the most favourable chances of good sleep make changes in your night time routine or incorporate one:
Create a sleep-conducive environment. Dim the lights, do not look at any screen that gives off a blue light an hour before bed. Make your bedroom a sanctuary for sleep.
Avoid stimulants. No coffee or anxious situations (people or TV) that overstimulate your nervous system before bed. If you drink caffeine, don’t have anything after 11am.
Go to bed earlier, or at least an hour before your usual bedtime to maximise your time in bed. Have a set time each night to go to sleep and a set time each morning to wake up.
Design a regular bedtime ritual such as soaking in a warm bath of Epsom salts, or listening to a meditation app or reading a (non-stimulating!) book before you expect to fall asleep. Some stretching or bedtime yoga can also help.
Focus on your breathing if you still feel slightly wired. Breathing in for 4 and then slowly out for the count of 8.
Sprinkle some lavender drops on your pillow or into your bath.
Sleep in complete darkness.
If you find you are regularly getting up in the night to go to the loo then limit your water intake an hour before bed (but make sure you keep your levels up during the day so that you do not become dehydrated).
Exercise first thing if possible so your body recognises it’s time for action.
Supplementally
Get your vitamin D levels checked, Vitamin D helps sleep so make sure you are not deficient – your GP can check this for you with a simple blood test. Make sure you expose yourself to lots of bright light during the day, especially first thing in the morning.
Take a magnesium supplement before bed (glycinate or citrate is best), magnesium has a calming effect on the body or you could also up your intake of magnesium rich foods in the evening, these include dark green leafy veg, nuts, legumes, unrefined wholegrains or dark chocolate (yes!).