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Trouble sleeping

Menopause symptoms and treatments.

Trouble sleeping

A disruption to your normal sleeping pattern is very common during perimenopause and menopause because of the hormone changes taking place in the body. As well as a lack of hormones directly affecting your ability to sleep well, many other factors come into play.

For anyone, sleep can be affected by stress, caffeine and alcohol intake, medication and current health, how active you are in the day, and what your bedtime routine is like.

Sleep can also be compounded by other menopause symptoms such as:

  • hot flushes
  • night sweats
  • palpitations
  • anxiety
  • feeling the need to go to the toilet frequently
  • joint pains and muscle aches

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If you have any questions or concerns about your health, please book a consultation.

Don’t worry alone, we’re here to help.

Ways to help sleep

  • Stick to set times for going to bed and getting up, including at weekends, this will strengthen a healthy body clock and aim for 7-8 hours per night
  • Keep your bedroom dark and cool, around 18 degrees is recommended by sleep experts
  • Once up in the morning, try and be in daylight as soon as possible, this will help wake you up and steer your body clock to healthy settings
  • Exercise regularly (e.g. 30 minutes a day) but avoid it in the 2-3 hours before going to bed
  • Avoid napping in the evenings and only go to bed when you’re feeling tired
  • Avoid alcohol as (contrary to popular opinion) it harms rather than helps good quality sleep
  • Have a relaxing bedtime routine, dim the lights in your home in the evenings, limit blue light emission from electronic devices and do whatever helps you mentally unwind
  • If you have racing thoughts, are an over-active thinker, or are in a distracting environment, you may find listening to music, a podcast or a sleep aid app useful or try mindful breathing techniques or thinking games to help fall off to sleep
  • HRT can help improve sleeping difficulties at peri/menopause and improve the other symptoms which may also disturb you at night
  • There are also medications and psychological therapies designed to help sleeping problems.