Sleep Hygiene

Sleep is critical for our hormone health, we require on average 7-9 hours a day, each person is different, but this is a good range. 

Good sleep patterns aim to align to the physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24hour cycle, called the Circadian Rhythm. This is a natural response of the body, primarily to light and dark and plays a vital role in the optimum functioning and regulation of humans. 

From approximately 9pm through to 7am each night, our melatonin (the sleep hormone) is released to cue our biological clock to promote and maintain sleep and from approximately 3am our cortisol starts to reignite slowly and peaks by 7am, signalling the point we wake. 

During sleep time, the body activates the Glymphatic System, a critically important overnight cleaning system, removing metabolic waste from the central nervous system and brain.  This essential process can only take place during sleep.  Science links the Glymphatic clearance, sleep and build-up of and non-removal of AB Plaque as a key hallmark of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s and dementia.  

It is estimated that 40-50% of women struggle with sleep issues in the peri-to-post menopause stages of life.  Common sleep issues include hot flashes and insomnia, breathing disorders and anxiety also scoring high. 

Issues often steam from hormonal imbalances, high cortisol, disruptive habits and poor sleep hygiene and there can be external factors too of course. 

Regular high cortisol is not good news for hormone balance, and it can have a considerable impact on sleep patterns and quality, in turn hindering essential clearance and regulatory systems carrying out their important roles, with long term and potentially irreversible effects. 

Other sleep disturbances that can spike cortisol, can come from our bedtime habits, from mobile and laptop blue lights tricking the brain into thinking it’s still daytime and those devices near your bed during the night, radiating ongoing electromagnetic frequencies disturbing your sleep patterns. 

If you are experiencing sleep disturbances regularly, consider your anxiety levels and how you can manage your cortisol levels through lifestyle changes and habit breaking.  Check your sleep patterns, your bedtime hygiene and dial up on your natural melatonin through daytime sunshine exposure and rich nighttime darkness and maybe add some supplements of zinc, vitamin C and magnesium – check with your healthcare professional first. 

If you would like to be supported and empowered to embrace your peri-to-post menopause journey, connect to me for a chat. 

MENOPAUSE MATTERS

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