Menopausal Women Don’t Have to Suffer with Insomnia.

Many women in menopausal transition often hear from their cohorts that now they’ve begun to experience the symptoms of menopause they’ll probably never sleep well again. Mature women don’t need to feel condemned to insomnia or trouble sleeping.

Many symptoms of menopause including insomnia catch us unaware. After all, we’ve lived all our lives to this point only having to deal with premenstrual symptoms. Many of us have given birth and we know our bodies to be one way. We’ve gotten used to it. So when symptoms of menopause start to occur, we often get caught unaware and the true cause of our symptoms related to menopause don’t even dawn on us. Menopause is new to us and we are not yet aware enough to realize that the enormous hormonal fluctuations occurring within our bodies are often the very causes of symptoms we’d normally ascribe to something else.

With knowledge and understanding of our bodies and how they function during the phases they move through, we can optimize our sleep process. Many women think there is something wrong with their brains for them to have endure insomnia during this time. But that’s wrong and those kinds of thoughts will actually perpetuate insomnia.

The good news is that most women can naturally restore their rhythmic sleep cycle without the need for prescription sleeping pills. Awareness and knowledge combined with simple lifestyle adjustments are key.

Chronobiology, the study of circadian rhythms, is a young scientific discipline which deals with research of the biological clocks and its implications in clinical medicine. It has determined that circadian rhythm disorders are manifest mainly as inappropriate sleep-wake timing, insomnia or excessive sleepiness at inappropriate times. Treatment of circadian rhythm disorders with the use of sleeping pills or wake-promoting agents and without taking chronobiological considerations into account may be futile or even detrimental to a woman’s well-being.

How the Circadian Clock Works

Biological clocks are composed of specific protein molecules that interact with cells throughout the body. Nearly every tissue and organ contains biological clocks. But a master clock or circadian pacemaker in the brain coordinates all the biological clocks in a living thing, keeping them all in sync..

In humans, the master clock is a group of about 20,000 nerve cells or neurons that form a structure called the suprachiasmatic nucleus(1) or SCN. The SCN is found in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus(2) and receives direct input from the eyes.

The SCN controls the production of melatonin, a ubiquitous natural neurotransmitter-like hormonal compound secreted by the pineal gland in the brain which makes you sleepy but which also does so much more.

Melatonin is largely associated with sleep. It is also known for regulating the reproductive cycle. But what most people don’t realize is that melatonin is produced naturally in the cells of the GI tract helping the body to regulate the production of gastric acids and control the lower esophageal sphincter.

The SCN receives information about incoming light from the optic nerves which in turn relay information from the eyes to the brain. When there is less light such as at night, the SCN tells the brain to make more melatonin so you get drowsy. This same melatonin would also find its way to your gastrointestinal tract for other digestive purposes.

Changes in our body along with environmental factors can cause our circadian rhythms and the natural light-dark cycle to be out of sync. If your lifestyle involves artificial and/or LED light in the evenings, there’s too much light and the SCN won’t be telling your brain to make more melatonin. Not only will your sleep be adversely affected but your digestion will, too (eventually causing acid reflux or worse), since melatonin is required to line the intestines so gastric acids will be produced in a regulated balanced way.

The way this process works is reflected differently according to whether one is male or female and the well-known sleep disturbances associated with menopause in women are a good example.

Circadian rhythm is detected in the daily pattern of hot flushes with a peak in the afternoons. Melatonin secretions decrease with age in both genders, but in menopausal women there is usually a significant reduction of melatonin levels thereby affecting sleep.

In addition to our sleep, circadian rhythms can influence other very important functions in our bodies:

Disturbed sleep and insomnia caused by an erratic circadian rhythm can be caused by:

These factors can cause sleep disorders, and may lead to other chronic health conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, digestive disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, and seasonal affective disorder.

Conclusion

Physiological changes that occur during the menopausal transition and after into post-menopause can sometimes have profound effects on sleep quality, daytime functioning and thus quality of life.

Insomnia is reported in about 46% of menopausal women. Research shows that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in the short-term can be beneficial for improving sleep quality in menopausal women experiencing insomnia or sleep disruption.

Surveys show that more than 80% of working women complain of fatigue with half of them not getting adequate sleep every night. Shift-working postmenopausal women have altered sleep and circadian rhythms which puts them at increased risk for insomnia.

In addition, most mature women who work outside the home return home only to be the principle caregivers for children, home and elderly family members. These responsibilities create an additional burden of stress which increases a woman’s risk for sleep deprivation.

Here are some lifestyle adjustments you can make to help reestablish your healthy circadian rhythm and, as a result, elevate your health and well-being:

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