Why You Can't Sleep When You Hit Your 40s?!
The hormonal rollercoaster that women experience, particularly around their 40s, has a significant effect on their sleep. The onset of perimenopause, typically in our early 40s, brings fluctuating hormone levels which can cause sleep disruptions like night sweats and hot flashes.
Sleep is vital for humans since it's the time when we rest, recover, cleanse our brains, and regenerate. The glymphatic system, which is similar to our lymphatic system but with the letter "G" in front of it, is responsible for cleansing our brains, and it becomes active during sleep.
It is believed that the production of melatonin during sleep has a positive effect on blood sugar regulation and insulin sensitivity the following day. If you have ever experienced a night of poor sleep and felt like your hunger, cravings, or overall blood sugar control was affected the next day, you are not imagining things. There is a connection between sleep quality and blood sugar regulation.
Why do we suddenly develop insomnia as we hit perimenopause?
There are a number of reasons why we get insomnia at the start of perimenopause:
1) As you age, your ovaries may not produce enough progesterone like they used to. Progesterone is created in the ovaries after ovulation (the release of the egg). As the cells around your eggs age, their ability to produce hormones decreases. In some cases, you may stop ovulating altogether, which means you won't produce progesterone that month.
This matters because progesterone helps with calmness, relaxation and reducing anxiety. Therefore if you are not making quality levels of progesterone, you might struggle to fall or stay asleep because you can’t relax!
2) During perimenopause, your estradiol levels become more erratic, especially in the middle to late stages. Estradiol is a potent oestrogen that plays a significant role in every system of your body. It can affect your sleep patterns, and also play a role in magnesium absorption in your tissues. Magnesium levels can impact brain hormones, pain, and stress response, among other things. Estradiol can stimulate the production of oxytocin, known as the 'bonding hormone', which can make you feel loved and connected. It can also influence your body temperature by affecting the thermoregulatory center in your brain, leading to hot flashes and night sweats. Adequate levels of estradiol are necessary for healthy joints, tendons, and muscles. If your estradiol levels are falling or remain low for an extended period, you may experience difficulty sleeping, trouble getting magnesium into your tissues, feeling mentally disconnected, suffering from hot flashes and night sweats, or experiencing joint or muscle pains.
3) Perimenopausal women may become less resilient to stress because of the hormonal changes that occur during this time. This can be particularly challenging, especially if you are experiencing high levels of stress. This is a significant transition period for your body, and it's possible that you may have children finishing school or Uni, or young children due to the timing of your life. You may also be at a peak in your career, and your parents may be aging. When your body perceives higher stress levels, it can have an impact on your sleep.
4) It's possible that your blood sugar (glucose) may be fluctuating more than it used to when you were younger. This could be due to increased stress or changes in your hormones, which can make you less sensitive to insulin or cause your blood sugar to feel more unstable. If your blood sugar drops too low during the night, your body will release cortisol as a countermeasure, which will cause you to wake up. This was observed in a group of women who used a continuous glucose monitor in their arm and also took a test known as the DUTCH Complete test. This test allowed them to collect a urine sample for cortisol if they woke up in the middle of the night. They found that their cortisol levels were higher when they woke up and reported that their blood sugar had dropped too low. They noticed this more in the luteal phase as they got closer to their period, if they were still cycling.
It's important to remember that there can be various other factors that can disrupt your sleep. Alcohol consumption before bedtime can also affect your sleep quality, particularly for women going through perimenopause, who tend to have lower alcohol tolerance levels. Additionally, your partner might have sleep apnea or your children or pets could be waking you up and so on.
What can you do about it?
Start with these simple steps to help you manage your sleep:
Wind down before bed - relax, drink calming tea like Chamomile or Valerian.
Take a warm bath with Epsom salts, read a book, do a quick meditation, write in your journal, or spend time with your family.
Reduce screen time! Try to be off your phone/device at least 1 hour before bed and wear blue light-blocking glasses. Mine are from Bon Charge, use code PIPPA15 for 15% off.
Make sure the room that you sleep in is dark. If you don’t have black out blinds then consider wearing a sleep mask.
If you tend to snore, then get in an evaluated position for sleep apnea (this goes for your bed partner too!). Snoring and sleep apnea means less oxygen is getting to your brain which isn’t good. An elevated position will help open your airways and reduce snoring.
If you're experiencing high blood sugar levels, consider consuming some protein and fat before going to bed. Examples include a scoop of your protein powder in water, a few bites of a high protein food, or a small spoonful of your favourite nut butter.
Take magnesium! My Magnesium Complex contains 3 key forms of magnesium including magnesium biglycinate which is excellent at promoting mental calm, relaxation and good quality sleep.
For extra support try my Mood & Sleep which has been carefully formulated to support your serotonin and melatonin levels. Optimised levels of both of these hormones can help you feel happy, relaxed and able to get a good night’s sleep.
Now could be the perfect time to consider testing your hormones. Our Dutch hormone test is a comprehensive hormone panel used to assess hormone imbalance in all stages of reproduction from menarche to perimenopause and postmenopause. We test Oestrogen, Progesterone, Testosterone, Cortisol and also markers such as Melatonin.