As well as being a frustrating symptom of menopause, hot flashes can have some unpleasant side effects of their own - insomnia being one of the more physically debilitating ones. Experiencing a hot flash during the night not only affects how you feel, it interrupts your sleep patterns and has a longer term impact on your health.
"Having eyes like saucers" is what my grandmother used call it. Insomnia plagues more than 56 percent of postmenopausal women, and it's not a new problem.
It seems that hot flashes, and insomnia in particular have plagued us for a very long time - as even the great Shakespeare wrote about it in Macbeth when he employs a physician to deal with his wife's insomnia: " Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Race out the written troubles of the brain; And with-some sweet oblivious antidote cleanse the stuft bosom of that perilous stuff which weighs upon the heart." Well, at least that's what it sounds like to me.
How HRT Has Impacted Insomnia
Yet, even though insomnia has been around for centuries, it seems to have just gotten worse. That's because many women dropped hormone replacement therapy after news that the risks outweigh the benefits. The abrupt withdrawal led to uncomfortable symptoms like night sweats, hot flashes and vaginal dryness - and sleeplessness.
Many women are now being plagued again with menopause symptoms and problems they thought they had left behind. But there are still a lot of options that can provide effective solutions to these issues.
Although it's fairly common, particularly for menopausal and post-menopausal women, insomnia and sleeplessness isn't a "one size fits all" problem, but with a few simple approaches, it's fairly straightforward to determine which treatment would be best for you.
The first approach should be to consult with your health care practitioner or doctor and review your medical history. This can help narrow down your options and make your decision easier. For some women, some form of hormone replacement therapy may still be the best short term answer.
Is Insomnia Part of Getting Old
Both men and women experience less-restful sleep after age 50 within the five stages of sleep, stage one, transitional sleep, and stage two, light sleep, are known as non rapid eye movement, or NREM sleep.
Stages three and four are known as deep or Delta sleep, and these are the most restful - these are the stages we need to get to quickly and remain in longest. Stage five is known as REM or Rapid Eye Movement. This is when we dream and take up about 20 percent of our sleep time.
After age 50 we spend more time in stages one and two, so we sleep lighter and are more likely to wake up. We get tired earlier in the evening and wake up earlier in the morning. But that doesn't mean we can't improve our sleep.
First task on the list to figure out where we are having problems and what is causing the disruption to our sleep process. Do you have difficulty falling asleep, or do you drift off easily only to wake up soon afterwards. Are you continually wakening during the night, or just wake to early in the morning? Are the hot flashes causing you to wake suddenly, or do you experience one almost immediately you awaken?
The Role of Natural Herbal Remedies
Some herbal products might be beneficial. Some specific herbal menopause remedies could be the answer, or over-the-counter sleep aids might help for awhile, but don't rely on the sleep aids too much - it's never that simple. It's better to create a new sleep pattern, a new routine that signals the body that it's time to sleep.
Stopping Hot Flashes From Disrupting Your Sleep
If your hot flashes are causing your insomnia, you need to find out what is triggering them. For some women it's having a dream in the middle of the night that brings it on, for others it could be something as simple as a "spooky" noise like the heating system switching on. Rather than treating the symptoms with sleeping pills, look for the triggers and manage those.
You have to find out what your body needs and work with it to get back into your normal routine.
My suggestion would be start with simple things like changing your diet and your routine. Take 15 - 30 minutes at night before you go to bed and simply sit down somewhere quite (away from the TV) and relax. Relaxing in a darkened room helps your body to increase production of sleep hormones like melatonin. Don't do anything stimulating late at night, like exercise or taking a hot shower.
Diet is also very important - what we eat has a huge impact on how our body works. Some speciality teas for example can induce hot flashes, so choose carefully and do a bit of research. Believe it or not, carbohydrates also increase your sleep hormones, so if you're on a low carb diet you may want to make a few exceptions in the evening. And warm milk can be a great help to induce sleep, but I'd recommend a non-dairy alternative like soy milk.
Article Source: http://www.orbitaloc.com/
Stop suffering from hot flashes and insomnia. Wendy Jones shares her experiences of hot flashes and insomnia on her blog talking about symptoms of menopause
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