Menopause Sleep Problems? Natural Remedies
Are you a woman approaching peri or menopause and are suddenly struggling with sleep problems. You are certainly not alone. In this article I will be discussing menopause sleep problems and natural remedies to help you get a better night sleep once again.
If you have been feeling constantly feel tired, sluggish and need at least 2 coffee’s before you can get going in the morning? But then struggle to get to or stay asleep at night?
If that’s you then read on or you can also watch the video version below
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Better health and your ability to stick to your healthy intentions are multi-faceted. But so many people get bogged down with the complexity of the process whilst missing out on this one, and massively underrated factor or sleep.
In a UK government survey, they found that:
- 13% of brits get less than 6 hours of sleep.
- As many of a quarter or brits have to take some sort of sleeping tablet to help them sleep.
- 36% of people say they have to drink alcohol to help them get to sleep.
Which by FYI is a very common misconception. Though you may feel like you get to sleep better, the quality of your sleep gets disrupted when you drink alcohol. Thisis why you wake up feeling tired and the whole cycle sets off again.
I recently did an incredibly scientific poll on my Instagram and the results seem to be quite in line with the above. As 25% of people voted that they get less than 6 hours of sleep.
Whilst there can be a lot of factors going into why a person doesn’t get enough sleep, young children certainly being one of them (That’s just one side of parenting that you have to navigate the best you can, knowing that it doesn’t last forever).
But those that can take some simple actions towards getting more sleep, should be making it a priority.
The benefits of getting enough good quality sleep are compounding and it’s also essential when it comes to wanting to lose weight, and even more so for the 40+ woman who is more affected by lack of sleep. Additional factors causing them to sleep less due to hormone fluctuations and the onset of menopause sleep problems and the need for natural remedies increases.
I have always been a good sleeper, right up until the last couple of years when all of a sudden I wasn’t.
I soon came to realise the real-life effects of waking up morning after morning and not feeling like I had slept well enough. Feeling constantly tired, struggling with motivation, feeling hungry all of the time and a brain that feels like it’s just not working properly. The struggle of tiredness is monumental for me. I literally feel like I can’t function these days when I haven’t slept well.
When I started applying sleep strategies, sleep quality began to improved and I began feeling a little less useless.
The difference in my own personal experience has been HUGE, which is why I will never stop banging on about the importance of sleep for health and weight loss and all-round better health.
Feeling well rested impacts your mood and allows you to remain in a positive mindset towards working on your goals, not to mention your ability to make better food choices. It means you have the energy to give it your all in your workouts.
Feeling well rested just helps me to be a better functioning and much nicer person to be around.
Sleep Less Eat More
Studies show, not getting enough sleep will increase your chances of consuming more calories.
A 2019 meta-analysis found that impaired sleep lead to:
- Increased levels of hunger
- Increased calorie consumption by 250 calories per day
- Decreased insulin sensitivity
- Changes in brain activity, specifically around self-control
- Weight gain (as a result of all of the above)
Think about the last time you woke up and just felt completely exhausted. Maybe you don’t have to think too far back if that’s what you experience most mornings.
What were your food choices like? How motivated did you feel to go and work out?
Maybe if you could make some good choices in the morning, by the afternoon when the tiredness really kicks in that 3 pm dip in energy leaves your self-control muscles on the floor and the vending machine wins yet again. You have to sink another couple of coffees to keep you going and it’s a constant cycle you can’t seem to get off.
When you aren’t getting enough sleep it can make your ability to eat well feel like an impossible task.
The Impact Of More Sleep
But fear not, it doesn’t mean you are destined to be this way forever. Another study shows that it is possible to turn it around.
The study by JAMA Internal Medicine found that when participants extended their sleep to 8.5 hours, the participants went on to consume 270 calories less per day without any other intervention.
So they weren’t told to eat less, just by getting more sleep they naturally ate less food and created a negative energy balance. Also known as a calorie deficit, which is essential on your weight loss journey.
That’s 1980 less calories a week, without having to do anything differently, just getting more sleep.
So if weight loss is the goal, more sleep should be at the top of the list of your priorities.
How To Get More & Better Sleep
Maybe 8.5 hours a night seems a bit far stretched from where you currently are, but there are other studies that show, like with any intervention that the amount of sleep a person finds as optimum is individualised.
So just work on increasing yours from your current baseline and you will likely feel and start to see the improvements.
I personally aim for 7.5–8 hours and really feel my best at 8 hours. It’s starting to come to light also that the whole 7-9 hours reccomended was because women have been underrepresented in sleep studies. And that women should be aiming for 8-10 hours as there is a greater need for hormonal rebalance during sleep.
“The study suggests that poor sleep — measured by the total amount of sleep, the degree of awakening during the night, and most importantly, how long it takes to get to sleep — may have more serious health consequences for women than for men.”
Now I know 8-10 hours may seem unrealistic in a womans very busy life. But just working on getting more sleep than you are right now can have a significant positive impact on your health and how you feel.
More sleep = more and easier weight loss.
Plus, if you are like me and really feel the effects of poorsleep, it’s going to massively affect your mood and energy levels too. In fact, there are so many health benefits of optimal sleep, but for the purpose of this article, we are keeping the focus on weight loss.
So if you have been convinced that improving your sleep is going to be a good investment of your time. Here are some of the strategies that have been helping me the most these last couple of months that I have been really working on it.
This isn’t an exclusive YOU MUST FOLLOW THIS LIST, I truly believe that we all have to experiment and work to cultivate our own sleep routines, the ones that work for the individual, and also one that you will actually enjoy and look forward to doing.
I now love incorporating these into my wind down routine, and getting into bed, in fact the earlier the better these days.
1 Magnesium
Magnesium is a supplement that has been pretty well studied, has many benefits and can also be lacking in our diets due to modern day farming practices as we usually would get it from the souil in which our foods are grown.
Aside from supporting bone and heart health, it’s also shown to have a positive effect on helping to manage stress, anxiet and supporting good quality sleep. It can help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer.
I have been taking magnesium regularly for over the last 10 years or so and swear by it for some of my best nights sleep. I love (affiliate link**) Better You as it’s a great quality product, uses sustainable and recycled plastics, well researched and it’s really affordable too.
2 No Caffine After Mid-Day
I know many of us love our caffeine, and it can indeed have health and weight loss benefits. But like most things in life, there is a fine line between good dosage and too much of a good thing.
Caffine has a 10 hour half life. Meaning that 10 hours after consumption, 1/2 of that caffine can still be in your system. So if you are someone who struggles getting to sleep, switching to non-caffeine drinks in the afternoon may support better quality sleep and duration.
I am a huge herbal tea lover and so love an afternoon herbal tea. My personal favourite is chamomile or Tulsi Tea teas though I do love to have a wide array of herbal and bedtime teas to consume in the late afternoon and evening when starting my wind down routine.
No screens 30 mins before bedtime
This is one I really have had to work on, because let’s face it, aren’t we all used to being on TV or computers in the evening?
Blue light stimulates cortisol and signals to the brain that it’s time to be awake. It can block the production of your sleep hormone, melatonin and may disrupt sleep quality and duration.
We can help counteract that and naturally induce your production of melatonin (your sleep hormone) by staying off devices immediately before bed.
Some reccomendations say staying of devices, and even your TV for as much as 90 minutes before bed. But I know that may seem like a stretch for many. So I have noticed that even 30 minutes has a positive impact in my own personal experience.
Create A Bedtime Routine
Getting off my screens before bed encouraged having to develop a more supportive bedtime routine. It doesn’t always include every one of these steps, but I try to as often as I can as I find these are the nights when I sleep the best.
My wind down routine which includes:
Midlife Skin & Hair Care
This includes hair oiling for my hair regrowth and using Castor Oil as part of my beauty routine for better skin and PCOS support.
I have also been using the Growband and though not an actual sleep aid, it’s designed for hair regrowth. BUT it is so relaxing and really helps to relieve tnesion after the day, wind down my body and when implemented with some breathwork is now a key part of my wind down routine. And I’ll be doing a more indepth video on it’s results with thinning hair too when I have been using it for longer.
CLICK HERE to check out the Growband and use the code ECN10 to receive 10% discount.
Which then leads me into my next step….
Reading Fiction
Reading fiction before bed is now part of my nighttime routine to keep me off the screen and to allow the mind to escape into imagination.
It kind of signifies that you can switch off from any worries or stresses from the day and slip into the dream world.
My current favourite read id ‘A Court Of Thones & Roses’ Series. Though I do have to extend some level of will power to stop at a set time. As it’s a real page tuner and it will tempt you to want to keep going after your bed time, so take this as your warning if you do dive into these books.
Or if I don’t want to read, then putting on a sleep story is also a great way to fall asleep quickly. These also work well if I ever wake up in the night and struggle to get back to sleep.
My favourites are from Steven Dalton and they are free on his Youtube channel
Regular sleep and wake times.
Matthew Walker talks about this a lot in his book ‘Why We Sleep’ and is highly reccommended if you are currently struggling with sleep. If you want to improve your sleep then having a regular sleep and wake time trains your body to know when it’s time for sleep and when to wake up.
This helps to balance your body’s natural rhythm circadian rhythm. Start with the time that you know you need to get up. And work backwards 8-10 hours depending on your sleep target. My personal target is 10pm-6am getting me 8 hours and this seems to be a good sweet spot for me, though I would really love to see if I can extend it further. I love nothing more than being in bed lol.
Morning Light Exposure
As soon as it gets light outside, expose your eyes to daylight. I simply open the curtains and get the daylight into my eyes. I live in the mountains and so don’t get direct sunlight until later in the morning, so it’s the best I can do.
Morning light exposure is supporting your body’s circadian rhythm, your natural wake and sleep cycles. So even if it’s 10 minutes out in the garden as the sun rises, even if it’s a cloudy day it can still be effectiving in signaling to your body that it’s get up and go time to support your day time energy levels but also those night time sleep hours.
No fluids 2 hours before bed
This is a big one for me as getting up in the middle of the night for the toilet is incredibly frustrating for me. As I am usually that person that doesn’t get back to sleep easily. And where those sleep stories can be useful.
Reducing fluids before bedtime in an attempt to stop me from having to get up in the night for a wee is something I really have to work on. I love an evening cup of chamomile and often feel thirsty. But I also hate it when I wake up because I need the toilet., which had become most nights.
I usually settle at about an hour before bed as my minimum but really 2 hours is the goal.
Tell Your Body It’s Not Time To Wake
IF I do wake up needing the toilet simply tell my body it’s not time to wake up and try to go back to sleep. 8/10 of this has worked, I was surprised when I first read an article by Dr. Christine Bradstreet about this, I was sceptical.
Never underestimate the power of the mind. Your body is very capable of holding on, and undisturbed sleep makes such a huge impact even if you are only getting up for a couple of minutes. As I said above, I can often struggle to go back to sleep as my mind often goes into overdrive so I have been practicing this more. Im always amazed at how I can just go back to sleep without having to go.
Try it and let me know how you get on.
Controlled Environment
Temperature, noise and light can all impact your sleep quality. I know this is especially true in the summer months when it gets light earlier. I need blackout curtains and/or a sleep mask if I don’t want to wake up before my regular time. The Manta sleep masks have been on my Christmas list for a few years now and I feel I am ready to invest to boost my sleep.
A cooler room if you can control the temperature (18 degrees celsius is optimum) and less noise the better, using ear plugs if needed. Especially for those with a snoring partner. The Loop earplug below are some of the best on the market.
This list is certainly not exhaustive. There are a LOT of sleep strategies that can help promote good sleep and I will add more to this article over time. Keeping it up to date with my favourite sleep strategies.
I haven’t even touched on breath work, diet or exercise which will also help to improve sleep. But wanted to give a concise list of the things that have been really helping me to improve sleep duration and quality.
You don’t have to do them all at once, but if you struggle with sleep take the inspiration from these tools to try and improve yours.
Sleep better, feel better and naturally be able to lose weight.
I’m interested to know. How many hours do you usually get? How do you feel on that amount?
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