How To Sleep Well During Menopause

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Discover the many sleep aids available for menopausal women. Learn how to fall asleep and stay asleep in mid-life and beyond. Find out what has worked for others and what may work for you as well. Don’t suffer from insomnia for one more night. Read THIS!

Sleep, what would we do without it?

During menopause, it’s not easy to get the sleep we need. We find ourselves waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to fall back asleep.

Why Can’t I sleep?

Estrogen and progesterone starts to dwindle during perimenopause.

When I was 42, that’s when peri started for me, and I started noticing a difference in my sleeping patterns.

Progesterone is a sleep-producing hormone so when you don’t have enough of it, your sleep quality is not as good as it should be.

Melatonin is also a sleep-producing hormone, and one of the hormones that dwindles during menopause as well. Many people take melatonin supplements, but for me, I like to stay clear of any synthetic hormones.

Instead, I find that Intermittent Fasting promotes growth hormones by helping your body make anywhere from 1000 to 2000 times the normal human growth hormones. It’s incredible really.

That means you can make more melatonin, naturally!

Your own body can produce what you need. I’ve been doing Intermittent Fasting for many years. You can read about my journey through the following link, Intermittent Fasting for Menopause.

In some studies, they have even prevented Menopause, or reversed its effects by increasing melatonin in the body. Melatonin is said to be responsible for onset of puberty and onset of menopause.

Increasing melatonin seems to be the way to go, but like I said before, I like to do it naturally.

If you don’t like Intermittent Fasting, you can always try eating more foods with Melatonin in them. And yes, you can get this hormone from food.

Try eating more nuts, and seeds, especially flax seed. And of course you can get Melatonin from fruits and vegetables too. What can’t you get from them? It’s always good to fill your plate with veggies. You’ll sleep better because of it!

You can also get Melatonin naturally from grains like rolled oats, barley, and rice. That’s not going to make those Keto dieters happy. But hey, if you want a good night’s sleep, eat grains!

What Can I do?

There’s a lot you can do to help you sleep better. As I said already, try giving your body more Melatonin. Eat it, or do Intermittent Fasting to make more of it.

I do both. I eat a lot of flax, and I take it just before bed. I ground up the flax seed, and then just take a spoonful of it before bed. Wow, does it ever help!

Other helpful suggestions are making sure your bedroom is completely dark.

Go to bed at the same time every night.

Don’t stay up late!

Do NOT have a nap in the middle of the day!

Don’t look at the clock every hour. In fact, just hide the clock!

And this one is my favorite – Hold your pee as long as you can. I know, weird!

Holding your pee isn’t always a good thing because of bladder infection, and it certainly isn’t what the doctor ordered, but it works for me.

If you can manage to do it, you will sleep better. I’m not saying to be ridiculous about it, but speaking from experience, you CAN train your bladder to hold your pee longer.

Don’t drink so much water before bed. It’s common sense, and something we tell our grandchildren so they don’t pee the bed. Right?

So why can’t we take our own advice?

When a menopausal woman gets up in the middle of the night to pee, often you can’t fall back asleep. It’s that disruption that is causing the problem.

So, for me anyway, if I can hold it to at least 4 or 5 a.m, I find I get a better night’s sleep.

All you can do is try it.

Having a good ceiling fan or portable fan works well too. I don’t know what I would do without my ceiling fan. I get so hot, I kick off all my covers. Then the ceiling fan cools me off, and I get a chill. You know the drill.

But without the fan, I couldn’t survive. It helps me sleep every night, even in the winter.

Installing an air conditioner in your bedroom window does wonders as well.

And when all else fails, having a positive attitude about sleep is invaluable. Your brain will believe anything you tell it. So tell it, you will have a good night’s sleep!

Convince yourself that sleep is easy peasy, and it will be!

What Sleep Aids Are Available?

Sure, we can take a million different kinds of natural health supplements, minerals, and concocted mixtures to try and bring on sleep, but there are many products on the market that will help without ever having to swallow a pill.

Below is a creative list of sleep aids on Amazon that will help you.

Some of the links in this post are Amazon affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Cervical Pillow for Sleeping – I have this exact pillow, and I can tell you, it helps me sleep like a baby. It doesn’t just help with sleep, It helps with my neck issues as well.

I discovered that having a curve in your neck is a sign of youth. But as we age we lose that curve, causing us neck pain, and neck related injuries.

Your neck should look like a curved banana, and when it doesn’t, you run into trouble. Sleep becomes uncomfortable, and pain wakes you up.

This problem was resolved with the right pillow. I’d highly recommend a cervical pillow to help hold the shape of a ‘youthful’ neck.

And sleep like your in hibernation!

Bamboo Women’s Pajamas – I always recommend bamboo pajamas if you want to sleep well. When you sweat, you need pj’s that absorb the moisture so you don’t wake up.

The biggest problem during menopause is the sweating at night. Kind of like a toddler peeing the bed. When you’re wet, you wake up.

But with these pajamas you don’t get wet.

Trust me, I have a pair of these bamboo pajamas and ever since I switched to them, I have had a good night’s sleep. They are highly absorbent.

You can even sew a pair like I did. Read how I made mine in my article, Best Material to Wear For Hot Flashes.

So, try some bamboo pajamas today, and get a good night’s sleep.

You won’t be disappointed.

100% Bamboo Sheet Set – If you don’t want to wear bamboo pajamas, or you like to sleep in the nude, then bamboo sheets are an absolute must. They work the same way as pajamas. They absorb the moisture completely, so you don’t wake up in the middle of the night.

That’s worth its weight in gold!

No more waking up in a pool of soggy wet sheets. Let the bamboo absorb it all, and keep you sleeping like a baby.

Adrenal Cocktail – This product is something you have to take orally, but I thought is was worth mentioning here. It actually needs a section all by itself, it’s that important.

Any time you work on healing your adrenal gland, your sleep will improve tremendously.

Your adrenal gland is responsible for controlling your hormones, and when it doesn’t work properly, your health will fail.

That means your sleep will suffer as well!

You can buy a ready made mixture on Amazon, and drink it every day. It helps your adrenal gland become healthy again, so you can make the good hormones that control sleep.

You can also make your own adrenal cocktail. I do.

I mix together 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar which contains potassium, with 1/4 teaspoon of pink himalayan salt. You mix that together with natural freshly squeezed orange juice, or it’s equivalent, and you have your own adrenal cocktail.

Since I have been taking this, my sleep patterns have improved a great deal.

Silk Sleep Mask – I never in a million years thought I’d wear a sleep mask, but now I do. I have transitioned to a hat actually, but I’ve worn the silk masks as well and they are the best on the market today, and cheap enough to buy one for every night.

I switched to wearing a hat that pulls down over my eyes because my head gets cold at night. My husband likes our house to be very cool most of the time. I love it cool too, especially during menopause, but I’d say he’s gone a little overboard. Now I need a hat 😉

I know it sounds crazy, but wearing a hat helps me sleep. More importantly, pulling it down over my eyes keeps it dark.

And a dark room helps you sleep. Melatonin in the body actually increases in the dark.

Bet you didn’t know that 😉

Blue Light Blocking Computer Glasses – I wish I would have known about these glasses years ago. I am on my laptop or ipad almost every night before bed.

The glare of the computer screen is said to keep your brain active, preventing you from sleeping well. That’s because melatonin decreases with light.

Wearing these glasses should prevent that from happening.

Thunderstorms for sleep – Listening to rain always makes me fall asleep. This sleep video will lull you to sleep in no time.

It’s actually hard to find a good tract to listen to. You can find them for free on Youtube, but they are always so full of commercials. You can’t use them to fall asleep when an hour into the video, an advertisement wakes you up.

This one’s add free, and cheap. Definitely worth trying!

White Noise Sound Machine – My grandchildren are lulled to sleep with white noise every night. They even have it on during nap time.

It works great!

The machine drowns out annoying sounds that keep you awake.

If you’ve ever dealt with dogs barking, trains, or traffic noise keeping your up at night, then this product is for you. It will drown out anything, and help you fall asleep in no time.

SnoreShield Instant Snore Relief – If you can’t sleep because you snore, or your partner snores, try this amazing product.

It holds your mouth shut so you don’t snore.

I know many people who can’t sleep well because of snoring issues, and finding a device like this one is a breath of fresh air, and an alternative to the costly sleep apnea machines on the market through a specialist.

You might be surprised that fixing snoring issues will help you get the sleep you need.

Fans – As I said before, I can’t go to sleep without my ceiling fan. You can get many different kinds of fans, from stand up, oscillating, portable, mini, and ceiling fans. I’ll post them all.

Air conditioners – I live in a mobile home and I don’t know what I would do without my central air. I couldn’t survive in the hot box, especially now during menopause. It’s my saving grace. Invest in one.

There are many kinds, from window air conditioners, to portable ones where you stick a hose out the window, or just insert it into your bedroom window. I’ll post them all.

I hope you have enjoyed discovering the many different sleep aides.

Taking medications for insomnia is not your only option. There are many other things that can help you get a good night’s sleep.

Sure, we can always pop a pill and go to sleep, but if we try other things, we might be surprised that we will have the sleep we so desire.

Often times, with very little effort, you can fall asleep easier than you think. All that required sometimes is changing a behavior, or a product.

It’s a simple as that.

Happy sleeping! May you enter that REM sleep you so desire, and stay that way the WHOLE night. May you dream dreams and rest well so you can start your day fresh.

EVERY day!

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Author Kathleen Morris

Kathleen Morris is a successful published author, blogger, and Youtuber. She enjoys writing about things she’s passionate about and making a difference in the world.