Insomnia and Menopause — A Reader’s Question

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I am having sleeping problems for the last 4 months. This happened in 2006 and lasted about two months and gone away completely. I used be able to sleep any time anywhere. Even now I do not have any problem falling asleep very soon during the day. It is only at night time. I am 52 yrs and also have hot flushes time time to time. I take menoheart a herbal remedy and it is sort of working for me but I have been using stilnox to fall asleep also (just half a tablet) as i do work full time and have to drop my daughter to school in the morning. Once i fall asleep i can sleep for ever. The problem is falling a sleep. Do you have any advise for me Wendy ? Thank you for your help Geetha

Hi Geetha

There seems to be a couple of things affecting your sleep quality.

First is the menopause. Some lucky women sail through this time of life without a qualm. The rest of us (myself included) do battle with moodiness, hot flashes and insomnia. Menopause affects our sleep in a couple of ways. Hot flashes causes adrenaline to rush through our body which can awaken us very suddenly and make it very hard to settle down to sleep. The other way menopause affects sleep — and this may apply to your situation — is that it can increase anxiety due to hormonal imbalances. You may need to experiment with your menopause medication to find one that works better for you. There are several good herbal ones on the market. (I use Mellowpause).

The second thing is you sound as if you may be trying too hard to fall asleep at night. If you can fall asleep easily during the day, your sleep “mechanism” is working ok, but your circadian rhythm may be out of whack. Try taking some Melatonin 1 hr before bed and see how this goes. Melatonin can be very effective for older people as our natural supply declines with age.

Lastly, try not to force sleep. Try to fill your mind with something else. Listening to a CD of someone talking can divert your mind away from worrying about not sleeping.

I hope this helps. I usually post questions on the blog for others’ benefit. Let me know if you do not want me to do this.

Wendy