Sleep and Menopause

If you’re going through menopause you know it is a time of serious changes. Physical and mental changes abound, and the way to keep your sanity as well as get through menopause with flying colors is to make sure you’re getting enough sleep. Menopause and sleep problems can go hand in hand when you have hot flashes, and at times many women feel menopause combines with not being able to sleep might drive them crazy.

It doesn’t have to get that bad if you have strategies in place to help you with the symptoms of menopause before you’re trying to come up with a solution at three in the morning while drenched with sweat. There is a better way.

When it comes to sleep problems and menopause there tends to be an increase in snoring, the kind that can wake you up out of a sound sleep and leave you wondering what, exactly, just woke you up. This could be the onset of sleep apnea, which is most commonly caused by weight gain – check your weight and your diet and see if you can’t take off those few extra pounds you put on. It could get rid of your snoring and leave you sleeping more peacefully during the night.

Menopause and sleep can also become an issue when you wake up with a hot flash. Hot flashes don’t just increase your body temperature. They are accompanied by a surge of adrenaline that can take time to recede enough for you to get back to sleep. So if you wake up hot and ready to run a hundred-yard dash, give yourself a moment to relax before trying to go back to sleep. If you try to go back to sleep right away without letting the adrenaline surge subside you will just be cursing menopause and sleeping will become something that just won’t happen.

Other sleeping problems due to menopause are caused by not being prepared for when the hot flash hits. Even if you need to go to sleep under a comforter with your favorite flannel pajamas on, make sure to have a light nightgown nearby and be ready to throw off the blankets. While you may feel like a cold shower will wake you up, the adrenaline has already done that for you so don’t worry about cooling down before going back to sleep and menopause can just mean you’re taking more showers in the middle of the night and returning to bed refreshed and ready to sleep the rest of the night through.

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