Even though the “how” is what you are really looking for, we are going to start with a brief discussion of the “why” because understanding is empowering and motivating when it comes to improving your sleep.
Why Care About Improving Your Sleep
There is the obvious — how crappy you feel when you don’t sleep well. Energy is lacking and you don’t have the oomph to get things done. But there are other things too. In this video, Dr. Marcie Richardson talks about all of the other things that are related to sleep. For that reason, optimizing for good sleep is especially important during this time. Full transcript below.
How Our Bodies Work to Create Sleep Rhythms
Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in our brain. It’s the hormone of darkness and maintains our circadian rhythms (i.e. sleep-wake cycles) by producing melatonin when the sun goes down. The sunrise in the morning stops the production of melatonin.
The Disruption!
A marker of our reproductive systems aging is our egg supply —scientific term “ovarian reserve” — which is estimated by follicle count via transvaginal ultrasound. As this supply or egg inventory diminishes, the amounts of hormones (estrogen and progesterone) produced change. It’s quite an intricate and amazing system, you can find a refresher on how this works here. When there are fewer eggs to be stimulated, there is less estrogen produced and when the monthly egg doesn’t pop out (i.e. ovulate) as regularly or is of a lower quality, progesterone levels are lower. All of these changes throw our bodies into a chaotic state. Anywhere there is an estrogen or progesterone receptor in our bodies — and there are many — can be affected by these altered levels of hormones. See hormone woman.
A reminder about homeostasis. Based on this principle, your body will work to get back into rhythm. And you can help!
Improving Sleep After the Disruption
Here are ways to improve your sleep by supporting your natural sleep rhythms.
- Establish a sleeping schedule. Go to bed and wake up at regular times. This doesn’t need to be to the minute, but find a 45-minute range and work within that.
- Give your body a break from digestion. Eat your last meal two or three hours before bedtime.
- Reduce light exposure one to two hours before bed. Pay attention to how many lights are on in your house, avoid screens with blue light before bed. Blue light blocks melatonin production. More in this video from our interview with melatonin expert Dr. Paula Witt-Enterby.
- Find a relaxation cue. Look for a breathing exercise or a short meditation for sleep that promotes relaxation and when you can, make it the last thing you do. There are many on Insight timer to choose from.
- Alcohol. We’d be remiss not to mention that alcohol disrupts your sleep too. For many women, wine is the worst offender, leading to a 2 am awakening, often with heart pounding. Again, each of us is unique. Experiment, see what helps and what hinders your sleep.
More information on supporting natural sleep rhythms and dealing with sleep disruption.
More from Paul Witt-Enderby: Q&A and the first of three videos.
Our WLB page on sleep disruption here.
Transcript
In this clip, Dr. Richardson talks about why prioritizing sleep is particularly important as hormonal patterns start to change.
There is very clear evidence that decreased sleep interferes with both mood and cognitive function. I think maximizing sleep and actually taking the time to sleep, so many of us at the end of the day we want to take the time to do some more work or just watch a TV show, or do something to just chill when we should be going to bed. And we need to pay attention to how much sleep you are actually getting. A lot of us think we are getting more sleep than we actually do get.
Brought to you by Women Living Better. More at womenlivingbetter.org
