Sleeping was never a problem for me. I could fall asleep fast, sleep through rain storms, dream hard, and wake up well rested and raring to go.
Fast forward to my late forties and my sleep fell into the garbage bin.
Here’s the back story…
At 47 I started to get hot flashes during the day. Slowly but surely they started happening at night as well. Obviously if you get really hot all at once, it’s either going to wake you up completely or cause you to sleep very lightly because you’re uncomfortable. And if you have to pee, the light sleeping makes you have to get up to go to the bathroom. So I’d often wake up in the morning feeling very unrested.
Then the hot flashes turned into all-out night sweats. I’d wake up from a deep sleep and find myself drenched in sweat and surrounded by wet sheets too. Sometimes they happened multiple times at night. This was a total outrage for someone who had slept soundly their whole life! Those were the mornings I’d wake up completely useless.
I quickly implemented solutions to protect my ability to sleep soundly, despite the hormonal changes. It’s been a journey, and I can’t say things are completely back to normal, but I’m close!
Here are the things I did to work with my perimenopausal sleep disruption and get my sleep back to normal-ish.
(Note – this is my experience, everyone is so different. Remember to experiment for yourself):
Hydrate in the beginning of the day
I’ve actually made a point of stacking my hydration earlier in the day my whole life because I hate having to pee in the middle of the night. Now it’s more important than ever so I adhere to a strict hydration schedule that stops around 7pm. A mild hot flash while sleeping may not not wake me up entirely, but the sensation of having to pee makes me sleep lightly, and if it’s strong enough, I have to get up to pee so I can go back to a deep sleep, which is very disturbing to my sleep cycle. And depending on what time of the night it is and where I’m at in my sleep cycle, sometimes I can’t fall back to sleep after a bathroom visit. No bueno, but stacking my hydration really does the trick!
Control room temperature
One time we were staying in a really nice hotel and as can sometimes happen when you’re in a new environment, we didn’t dial the room temperature very well for sleeping. As a result I was plagued with night sweats the whole night. The next evening we opened the window and got the temperature pretty arctic in the room and it made all the difference. I know this one’s obvious, but sleeping in a cool room definitely helps.
Use thinner covers
Many people, myself included, love a fluffy duvet comforter to snuggle into at night. However, a thick, heavy covering can be way too insulative and your body can really heat up in that cocoon. This year we switched to a layered bed of a thin quilt and thin blanket and it was so helpful in preventing hot flashes and night sweats.
Take herbs for perimenopause
Taking some of the supplements and herbs recommended by my doctor didn’t solve the sleep problems, but they definitely took the edge off. I’m not a doctor or a naturopath, so I don’t want to give you a list of things and tell you to take them, but I do advocate for getting some nutritional support from a qualified practitioner.
Get your yoga practice on
I’ve found that a good, calming before-bed sequence or simply hamstring-openers and seated poses definitely improve my sleep and lessen the severity of hot flash interruptions. This is also true of Restorative yoga poses specifically helpful for hormonal changes, such as legs-up-the wall pose and Instant Maui. Restorative yoga can be done any time of day but before bed is good too.
Avoid saunas, even infrared
Some swear by saunas to help their perimenopause, but for me the heat and the sweating triggered my hot flashes and night sweats so saunas, even the infrared ones, are a hard pass for me.
Eat breakfast rather than intermittent fast
For a while I was noticing that my metabolism was sluggish so I thought I would give my body an opportunity to fast while I was sleeping, and then extend that fast until later in the morning. Intermittent fasting was helping many of my friends and family, and so I gave it a try. I loved it and felt fabulous during the day, my metabolism was back to normal, and I thought I’d really found something that was a game changer. But I also noticed that after a long period without hot flashes at night, they came back with a vengeance.
I was venting to my coach that my sleep was terrible. She has been reading a book on fasting and shared that it’s not always great for perimenopause. She said, “Maybe you should try eating breakfast.” I ate breaky first thing the next morning, and the day after that too, and shortly thereafter I was sleeping through the night again!
Consult with other women
I can’t stress how grateful I am for the older friends and peers who have been there for me as I joined the ranks of the perimenopausal and menopausal. Much like when I had my first cycle, without support from others it can be so isolating and scary when the body changes out of the blue. Reach out and don’t go it alone. I’ve gotten so many life-saving nuggets of advice by being vulnerable and asking for help and support.
To that end, if you have any tips for better sleep during perimenopause, please leave a comment on social and share!