Sleep and Perimenopause: Strategies for Restful Nights

Sleep and Perimenopause: Strategies for Restful Nights

Do you struggle to fall asleep or wake up during the night drenched in sweat and then lie, staring at the ceiling for hours? It’s frustrating because we know how vital good sleep is, but during perimenopause, it’s often tantalisingly out of reach.

What robs us of sleep during perimenopause?

Hot flashes or night sweats - Hot flashes are probably the leading cause of sleep problems during menopause. Fluctuating estrogen levels make it harder for the body to maintain a consistent temperature, which leads to hot flashes and, even worse - night sweats!

Stress or anxiety - Perimenopause often happens when women are busy with work, family, and other commitments, which can all be stressful. Add to that the stress of dealing with changes to your body and mood, making for a recipe for sleep disaster.

Snoring and sleep apnea - Studies show that lower levels of estrogen and progesterone during perimenopause can lead to increased snoring and sleep apnea (when your breathing is interrupted during sleep), which, in turn, can lead to more disturbed sleep.

Why is sleep important?

Lack of sleep can make you irritable, forgetful, and hungrier, especially for carbs or sugary foods.

Now, perimenopause is likely giving you some of those symptoms already, so we don’t really want to make them worse or introduce more by not getting enough restful sleep.

Four areas to improve for a restful night’s sleep

With a few tweaks, you can make your sleep less of a nightmare and more of a dream. Here are four areas where you can make positive changes.

1. Your sleeping environment - To give yourself the best chance of sleep, you need to start by ensuring that your sleep environment supports your chance of a good night’s rest. 

•   Make sure your room is dark enough - Consider blackout linings for your curtains, turn off any devices like TVs that might have a standby light and dim or cover other light sources like digital clocks. Try sleeping with an eye mask if you can’t make the room dark.

•   Keep your bedroom cool - If you can do it safely, keep a window slightly open or have a fan running slowly.

•   Make your bed - Using natural fibres for your bedding can help to keep your bed cooler and help to take moisture away.

•   Keep yourself cool - Similarly, if you like to wear pyjamas or a nightie, choose natural fabrics to keep you cool. Surprise tip - wear socks to bed! That might sound weird, but keeping your feet warm helps to regulate your core temperature, keeping you cooler overall. Not a fan of socks? Add a cosy blanket over the covers at the bottom of your bed.

2. Your sleep schedule - You might think you’ll just catch up on your sleep at the weekend, but sleeping extra long on weekends can be counterproductive. It’s better to go to bed and wake up around the same time every day. A schedule helps your body to maintain its circadian rhythm and to understand the cues for sleep. Getting enough hours of sleep is more important than the times you go to bed and wake up. For example, you could go to bed at 1am and wake up at 9.30am each day and feel rested if you have the choice. But for most of us, our wake-up time will be set by outside constraints like family or work. So think about when you need to wake up and then work backwards to find a bedtime that will give you at least 7-8 hours of sleep.

3. Your bedtime routine - Once you have a sleep schedule and a regular bedtime, you can create a bedtime routine to help your body get ready for sleep. Things you might include are:

•   Reducing screen time close to bedtime - Ideally, don’t use devices for a few hours before bed.

•   Take a warm shower or bath - This can help you relax, but remember that this isn’t a great idea if you have hot flashes. In that case, a cool shower is better.

•   Stop eating and drinking caffeine or sugary drinks several hours before bed.

•   Add relaxation time before bed - read, journal, do some gentle exercise like yoga or meditate.

I know it can be hard when you have a really busy day, and all you want to do is zone out and binge-watch some TV - this is often known as revenge bedtime procrastination or sleep procrastination - but trust me, your body and mind will thank you more if you go to bed instead!

Once you are in bed, try to stay relaxed. Breathing or visualisation exercises can help. If you can’t get to sleep or you wake up and can’t go back to sleep, it’s better to get up for a while and reset than lie there and stress about it.

4. Your diet and exercise - What you eat, how you exercise and when you do those things can affect your sleep. If you have trouble sleeping, exercising earlier in the day and avoiding strenuous exercise in the evening is better. Getting daylight early in the day is also helpful, so if you can exercise outside, that’s even better. When it comes to diet, look at foods that might be worsening your hot flashes, like spicy food, and avoid those in the evening, and avoid caffeine and alcohol too. You could also look at foods that contain ingredients that assist sleep, such as magnesium-rich foods or foods that contain tryptophan, an essential amino acid that helps to make serotonin.

If you'd like extra help managing your health and weight loss during perimenopause, get in touch for one-on-one coaching. You won’t find any coach more dedicated to and invested in your success.