Insomnia isn't for sissies

I've never been what you'd call a sound sleeper.  If I averaged 5-6 hours a night in years past, it was a good amount. But since this beautiful event called MENOPAUSE entered my life two years ago, I will venture to say if I get 2 hours straight a night, that's cause for celebration.

Ridiculous.

Who can survive on such little sleep? We need sleep. It's rejuvenating to our brains, our bodies, our psyches. Without sleep our mental focus is nil. Our brain cells can't function and our synapses mis-fire.

To try and understand this a little better I – of course – did some research. Here’s some of what I found related to insomnia and menopause:

To classify as true insomnia, you must experience 1 or more of these symptoms:

-Difficulty falling asleep (duh!)

-Waking up frequently and not being able to fall back to sleep

-Waking up in the middle of the night and being “awake”

-Non-refreshing sleep (awake but tired throughout the day.)

You need 1 or more of these? Hell, I have all of them!

Here are some things that contribute to insomnia symptoms:

-Waning levels of estrogen contribute to the inability to fall asleep.

-Cortisol, which is released by the adrenal glands, serves to preserve and protect the body during stress. When the cortisol level is out of whack, it can have terrible consequences. These include: interference with restorative REM sleep, interrupted sleep rhythms, panicky thoughts, heart-racing, and even panic attacks. Out of whack cortisol can lead to the tired but wired sensation so many women experience throughout the day.

-Chronic insomnia (me!) has health implications attached to it as well, such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression (another Duh!) and an increased risk of alcoholism and drug use due to the tendency to self-medicate to cause sleepiness ( booze and pills.) 

Yikes!

So, now that I know what causes it, what can I do to get rid of it? Forever!

Well, you kinda can’t. But you can try to control it from getting worse.

Here are the Duh ones that we all know already:

-Limit caffeine, alcohol and surprisingly, nicotine throughout the day

-Don’t take a nap no matter how tired you are and don’t do a caffeine shot to stay awake instead of napping (Vicious cycle, anyone?)

-Exercise in the early day, not at night.

Okay, so I do all those things and I still can’t sleep.

Here are a few more suggestions I’ve culled:

-Keep your bedroom cool. I should have put this one in the Duh category, because HELLO! Night sweats. I sleep in air conditioning during sub zero temperatures outside. I am buck naked on top of the sheets; hubby is under six blankets and flannel pjs.

-Wear light clothing (or in my case none at all!)

-Don’t go to bed until you are tired. Again, HELLO! Menopause: tired all the time.

-Avoid sleeping pills. Okay this one makes sense for two reasons. #1 – the addictive tendencies, and # 2 the morning after grogginess.

-Don’t watch television or read a laptop in bed – do it in another room.

-Reduce stress levels (not gonna happen!)

-Don’t eat soon before retiring, avoid spicy foods or things that could give you heartburn; don’t drink wine or alcohol close to bedtime.

Okay, did ALL of that. Still awake.

When all of this fails, talk to your MD. Sometimes there are underlying sleep issues menopause compounds that can be controlled using pharmacology in short term time frames. Some drugs that might be helpful include:
Tibolone, a synthetic hormone or Clonidine.

Don't take the dumb Duh route and try over the counter sleep aids. The kind of sleep disturbance they usually can help with is not the one that is making your life miserable.

When all is said and done, human beings NEED sleep. Menopause robs women of sleep. Wouldn't you think by now medical science had done something to eradicate menopause? It sure would eradicate all those zombie-like 50 and 60-somethings walking around, wouldn't it??! 

Thoughts? Comments?