Menopause Relief And The Types of
Insomnia
 If you are looking for menopause relief, it is
important to understand the types of insomnia. To choose a
wise course of action you need good information; it is not
enough to take some pills and hope it goes away.
One of the main menopause symptoms is
insomnia, and this is a signal that your body is sending to try
and get your attention; Hey! I need some help, do something!
All too often, we just blunder along, hoping for the best,
while we become more and more fatigued.
What are the types of insomnia?
• Primary insomnia occurs when
there are no contributing physical or psychological conditions
at the root. Usually, this is caused by poor sleep habits such
as drinking coffee at night, using alcohol to induce sleep,
going to bed with unresolved issues that are stressful, leaving
the light or radio on, etc. These poor habits disrupt our
natural internal sleep clock and cause insomnia.
• Secondary insomnia occurs when
there is an underlying physical cause such as a psychological
or physical illness. This would include medications, obesity,
diabetes, fibromyalgia, perimenopause, menopause, arthritis,
etc. When treating secondary insomnia, it is advised to treat
the underlying cause and, at the same time, help the
insomnia.
Menopause relief from
insomnia
Many women who have never had trouble sleeping
find that during pre-menopause and during menopause, they wake
up easily and have difficulty falling back to sleep. This is
partly because the internal sleep clock has been disrupted.
This internal body clock is called the Circadian
rhythm. This is from a Latin root, meaning about the day. In
the past, people slept many more hours because their day
followed the daylight and nighttime patterns. So, our bodies
are basically set to follow this pattern and when it is
disrupted, we need to reset it.
Hot
flashes disrupt this body clock by raising the bodies
temperature at random times. Our circadian rhythms are closely
tied to temperature and thus the hot flashes cause the internal
clock to wake us up.
What can be done about these two types of
insomnia?
• Primary insomnia. There is a
lot you can personally do about this type of insomnia. As we
age, our habits often need to change as well. The bedtime
routines of the past may no longer work as they once did. The
soft music you used to like at bedtime might now sound
irritating, or the night light might keep you awake.
Keeping the bedroom quiet and free from activity
can be very helpful as well. Many people have office equipment
or exercise equipment in their bedroom. This might be fine, but
if the fax machine goes off, or your partner is cycling away at
night, you may consider relocating the equipment, or changing
the times they are used.
It is obvious as well, that limiting caffeine
intake before bed, watching what you eat and when you eat it,
avoiding stimulating TV programs, etc, can make a huge
difference in you quality of sleep.
There are numerous high quality natural insomnia
treatments on the market as well. This is a much better choice
than a little wine before bed. The wine will make you drowsy,
but soon you are awake again, whereas, the herbal remedies can
help you to experience a longer nights sleep.
• Secondary insomnia. If you are
experiencing menopause insomnia, there are a number of things
you can do. First, listen to your body; it is trying to tell
you something.
Hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause are
primarily caused by in imbalance of hormones. This is because
during menopause the ovaries begin to slow the production of
female hormones. Artificial hormone replacement therapy is not
advised because of the increased risk of breast cancer.
The best way to begin balancing female hormones is
by leading a healthy lifestyle. This goes a long way to
resetting the internal clock and bringing peace of mind as
well.
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