Sleep Problems during Menopause

Many women, in fact the majority of women, will suffer sleep problems during menopause. Therefore, if you find yourself suffering from sleep problems it is worth being proactive and educating yourself on some of its related symptoms and causes. There is a wealth of free and handy information available that can help you get a good night´s rest. Read on to get a fuller picture of sleep problems during menopause.

What constitutes sleep problems? How do I know they are related to menopause?

Sleep problems in general refer to any ailment that affects the normal sleep patterns of a person. Depending on the severity of the disturbance, sleep problems can adversely affect emotional and physical function, resulting in insomnia, snoring and sleep apnea. Insomnia is by far the most typical complaint, occurring in 56% of menopausal women.

Many women find that their sleep is restless as they experience menopause. Symptoms may include waking up more often than normal, tossing and turning all night, and just a general inability to get to sleep. Typically, the occurrence of insomnia doubles during menopause than experienced normally before menopause. In order to address the problems associated with sleep problems, one should be informed about the causes of this affliction in the first place.

What cause sleep problems during menopause?

The causes for sleep problems during menopause can be divided broadly into the psychological and physical. However, changes in sleep patterns due to menopause are frequently the result of physical factors.

Psychological: Overwork, emotional daily stress, and tiredness can cause sleep problems at night, regardless of menopause or not. Fortunately however, cases resulting from stress are mostly temporary and the sleeping problems disappear when the stressful time ends.

Physical: Menopause sleep problems are mostly caused by disturbed hormone levels. That is because a decline in estrogen causes a variety of side effects, including a decrease in serotonin, which is used to create melatonin (sleep hormone). Therefore, without a balanced level of estrogen, the body is not able to produce the right amount of either serotonin nor melatonin.

Because sleep problems during menopause tend to get progressively worse without treatment, it is helpful to have a strategy to prevent them occurring. Given that imbalanced hormonal levels as a result of menopause are the common cause, there are a variety of tips and measures available to combat them.

What can I do about sleep problems during menopause?

Sometimes a simple change in habit or lifestyle can provide significant relief for sleep problems occurring during menopause. Having established that the sleep problems are linked to a drop in estrogen hormones in the body, the biggest practical step in dealing with them is through maintaining a healthy diet and exercise routine. The body needs to be healthy in order to have the best chance of maintaining stable hormonal levels. Being above your weight target is more likely to exacerbate sleep problems, so staying in a healthy BMI range is a big factor. In addition to lifestyle choices there are a range of pharmaceutical and alternative medicine remedies that help to reduce sleep problems. These remedies will often target the issue of hormonal imbalance itself, and therefore can prove effective in dealing with the consequences of hormone imbalance. Click on the following link to get more information on some of the treatments available for sleep problems.

Read more about Sleep Disorders  

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