Causes of Menopause Insomnia
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
Menopausal insomnia is unlike most insomnia occurrences. Most of the time insomnia is caused by psychological factors or something that eat or drink that interferes with either your sleep patterns or actually attaining sleep. Things such as caffeine or spicy food can contribute towards insomnia. Menopause insomnia is caused by fluctuations and irregularities of the hormones in a woman’s body.
As we all know, menopause is the phase of a woman’s life where eventually her monthly menstruation slows and stops. This is a function of age and cannot be reversed. When a woman reaches the age of 45 or 50, menopause starts and her ovaries stop producing estrogen. Without estrogen, the reproductive system grinds to a halt.
Insomnia during menopause or menopause insomnia manifests itself as the inability to sleep continuously through the night. Some women often sleep initially but then wake up some time later only to have a hard time falling back to sleep. More often, these episodes are immediately followed by night sweat or a feeling of warmness or hotness. Some times the menopause insomnia might manifest itself as sleep anxiety disorder or a vivid nightmare that disturbs the dreamer’s sleep. At times, the woman just wakes up for no reason at all.
One possibility that researchers have put forward regarding menopause insomnia is the inability of the body to maintain a regular body temperature during menopause. This is due to hormone irregularities. The hot flash is what could be preventing the woman from sleeping although it may not seem so to her at that time. Hot flashes can occur anytime of the day and is an uncomfortable feeling or heat or warmth.
In addition to menopause insomnia, menopause may also trigger anxiety attacks and depression. These can also affect sleeping. Anxieties soon become obsessions and obsessions can prevent women from having a good nights sleep. All these conditions can be blamed on hormonal changes that come with menopause.
There are two ways to deal with menopause, naturally with things like herbal teas or aromatherapy or with medication. Natural cures such as teas and aromatherapy promote better sleeping habits and make falling to sleep much easier. Medication will probably work but it always comes with possible side effects and then there is the whole dependency thing. Natural cures are always preferable to chemicals and their consequences.
Ken
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April 20th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
It seems sleep apnea also has a menopause connection. If you are prone to morning headaches or waking up during the night several times to go to the bathroom you should check with your doctor if you might have sleep apnea.