Are Menopause and Insomnia Linked?

Being a woman is difficult. Having to deal with period and endure monthly menstrual pains when they are young. And menopause is another life changing experience for women. Due to the sudden drop in hormones, the body experiences many changes.

A woman may experience hot flushes, irritability and sever mood swings. Getting insomnia is just another side effect of menopause. For many women, menopause and insomnia go hand in hand.

What Causes Insomnia During Menopause

The main cause for this is due to the sudden change in level of hormone in a woman's body. The sudden drop in hormone level causes

• you to have sleep apnea
• hot flashes or hot flushes
• night time sweating
• depression and anxiety

Sleep Apnea

This is due to the drop in hormones and weight gain during menopause. With less estrogen to control your weight, during this period, most women gain weight which indirectly stresses the body. Which in return stresses the breathing cycle.

To cure this, try relaxation breathing technique to allow your body to be familiar with the new breathing methods. This will help to reduce sleep apnea problems.

Hot flashes or hot flushes and night time sweating

This is another culprit in causing women to wake up in the middle of the night. Just suddenly, women will feel hot and starts to perspire while sleeping. While it is normal to sweat during sleeping, hot flashes last for a period of time and the amount of sweat produce makes the body extremely uncomfortable. And this is when, the body responses by waking the woman up to change her clothing.

For some women, the amount of sweat produce is so much that even the bed sheets have to be changed!

To solve this issue, wear light clothing to sleep and use a thinner blanket if possible. This will reduce the raise in body temperature. Alternatively, get a mini-bar fridge and place beside the bed. Place a cool pack inside the fridge. If you are experiencing the hotness, apply the pack on the forehead and chest to cool down the temperature.

Depression and Anxiety

During this period, mood swings are pretty common. One moment, she can be feeling happy and the next, she can be feeling negative about her surroundings. During sleep, the body responses the same way too. The mind can be resting at one moment and the next moment, the mind could be pumping adrenaline to the whole body which wakes her up. With this mind racing, it is extremely difficult for women to sleep peacefully at night.

One sleep relief method is to try to exercise. This makes the body physically tired and allow it to rest better at night.

Another method to get back to sleep immediately after menopause insomnia is to learn breathing techniques. With the correct breathing technique, the body calms down which allows you to fall asleep easily

To get better quality sleep, read through tips for insomnia, using herbs for insomnia and working treatments for insomnia. They are working methods for getting the quality sleep which is much needed during menopause.

If all the above sleeping solutions fail to work for you, consider getting help from the professionals such as doctor or counselor. They may be able to have some golden words of advice for your menopause and insomnia issues.