Sleep problems associated with the menopause

Sleep problems associated with the menopause.

Many women going through the menopause often experience insomnia, an inability to fall asleep or stay asleep at night. This is a normal side effect of the menopause and is usually caused by symptoms of the menopause, such as hot flushes.

I am not sleeping well at night. Do I have insomnia?

Symptoms of insomnia can include one or more of the following:
• Difficulty falling asleep
• Waking up frequently during the night, with difficulty returning to sleep
• Waking up too early in the morning
• Non-refreshing sleep (feeling tired upon waking and throughout the day)

Will drinking alcohol or warm milk help me to fall asleep?
Alcohol may help you relax and fall asleep, but it should not be used as a sleep aid because it does not induce a natural form of sleep, and it has a rebound effect. It can disturb your sleep later and can cause you to awaken in the middle of the night.

Milk contains a substance called tryptophan. The body uses tryptophan to make serotonin, a chemical in the brain. Serotonin helps control sleep patterns, appetite, pain, and other functions. Milk does not contain enough tryptophan to change sleep patterns, but drinking a glass of milk before bed may help you relax.

How is insomnia treated?
There are many steps you can take to get yourself sleeping soundly through the night.

Here are some tips:
• Do not nap during the day
• Exercise daily. However, be sure to avoid vigorous exercise from three hours before bedtime
• Avoid caffeine, alcohol and nicotine throughout the entire day
• Keep your bedroom cool to prevent night sweats
• Do not go to bed until you are tired
• Have a warm bath or shower at bedtime
• Do not watch television, eat or read in bed. Do these activities in another room until you feel sleepy
• Follow the same bedtime routine each night
• Avoid taking sleeping pills

When lifestyle changes such as these fail to cure insomnia, talk to your doctor. There may be other options that can help. The doctor may be able to prescribe temporary medicine to help you sleep and get you sleeping regularly. In addition, your doctor can rule out other conditions that may be causing your sleep problem.

For example, if depression is causing your sleep problems, your doctor may prescribe an antidepressant.

If your insomnia is a result of menopausal symptoms, you may also want to talk to your doctor about taking hormone replacement therapy for a short period of time. HRT may help alleviate symptoms that are causing your sleep problem.

Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com

Tart cherry juice, a natural insomnia cure

Tart cherry juice, a natural insomnia cure

A new research has suggested that drinking tart cherry juice daily can help reduce the severity of insomnia and time spent awake after going to sleep.

To reach the conclusion, a team of University of Pennsylvania, University of Rochester and VA Center of Canandaigua researchers conducted a pilot study on the sleep habits of 15 older adults.

The adults drank 8 ounces of tart cherry juice beverage (CheriBundi www.cheribundi.com) in the morning and evening for 2 weeks, and a comparable matched juice drink, with no tart cherry juice, for another 2 week period.

There were significant reductions in reported insomnia severity and the adults saved about 17 minutes of wake time after going to sleep, on average, when drinking cherry juice daily, compared to when they were drinking the juice drink.

The researchers suspect tart cherries'' natural benefits could be due in part to their relatively high content of melatonin – a natural antioxidant in cherries with established ability to help moderate the body's sleep-wake cycle.

Produced naturally by the body in small amounts, melatonin plays a role in inducing sleepiness at night and wakefulness during the day.

Russel J. Reiter, a biomedical scientist at the University of Texas Health Science Center and one of the world's leading authorities on melatonin, says while melatonin supplement pills have been heavily promoted as a sleep aid, foods such as cherries – available year-round as dried, frozen and juice – may be a better alternative for boosting the body's own supply of melatonin.

"When consumed regularly, tart cherries may help regulate the body's natural sleep cycle and increase sleep efficiency, including decreasing the time it takes to fall asleep. And, because cherries are so rich in other antioxidants, such as anthocyanins, you get other important health benefits," Reiter said.

The study has been published in the Journal of Medicinal Food.



Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com

Caffeine Calculator

Just a quick note for those of you concerned that caffeine intake is effecting your sleep.

If you want to be sure how much caffeine is contained in various drinks or foodstuffs ( a 50g bar of chocolate can contain as much as 50mg of caffeine!) there is a great resource available on The National Sleep Foundation Website which can be found at:

www.sleepfoundation.org

Worth a look...

Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com

Ditch the telly!

Ditch the telly!

Get rid of the television in the bedroom.

This really did help me in my quest for a cure for insomnia...

Stop watching TV in bed late at night. It basically over stimulates the brain making it difficult to switch off.

Taking a lap top or computer to bed has a similar effect – so don’t do it. Bright lights from a TV and computers can also interfere with the production of hormones such as Melatonin that help regulate the sleep/awake cycle and are responsible for helping you get a good nights sleep.

So – keep the telly in the living room, and keep the bedroom for sleeping.

Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com

Blackout!!!

Darkness stimulates your brain to produce the sleep hormone melatonin – light disrupts this problem.

You need to make sure that your sleep environment is as dark as possible. If you live near bright lights – line your curtains with blackout cloth or invest in some blackout blinds. Close bedroom door and shut out the light.

Don’t leave lamps on when you are asleep of have computer screens glowing in the background – you need total darkness.

Also remember to dim the lights in your bedroom as you start to wind down. This will help your body to start relax and your natural body clock to start to realise it is time for sleep.

If you work shifts and have to sleep during the day, or if you live in a particularly light area with a street light just outside your bedroom window – it’s worth considering an eye mask to help recreate the sensation of darkness/night.

These eye masks are easily available and can be found in pharmacists and travel/luggage shops.

Remember – when trying to sleep – Black is good!

Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com

Insomnia Jargon Buster R-So

Hi there

Jargon Busting – R-So!

Here’s are a few more explanations of definitions that you’ll probably come across if you’re trying to understand your insomnia. Hope it sheds a bit of light on the subject.

RAPID EYE MOVEMENT (REM) – This is the type of sleep which occurs during sleep stage 5 when the brain is really active. This is seen by many experts as the best type of sleep and usually involves the eyes moving around quickly when the eyelids are closed. Now you know where the band got their name from!!

RESTLESS LEG SYNDROME (RLS) – This is where the sufferer is constantly woken up during sleep by involuntary movements of the limbs – usually causing a sudden jolt and disrupting sleep.

SERATONIN – This a substance that the body makes which then helps make the sleep hormone MELATONIN. You’ll sometimes find it referred to as 5HT.

SHORT TERM INSOMNIA – These are bouts of insomnia which can still be severe which last up to one month.

SOMNAMBULISM – This is just another term for Sleepwalking, where people get up and move around during the night without being properly awake.

I’ll stop with definitions for the time being, but there are a load of definitions all starting with the word SLEEP, which I’ll try and explain the actual meaning of shortly.

Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com

Sleep restriction

Really interesting YouTube clip on Sleep restriction as a cure for insomnia

There was a really interesting documentary on BBC television I caught the end of, about people with sleep disorders. The bit that really caught my attention was about a TV presenter called Dominic Diamond – who I had met about twenty years earlier at a comedy club when he was plying his trade as a budding stand up comic.

To be honest he wasn’t much good – so I can see why he’s ended up as a TV presenter as opposed to the next Chris Rock or Ricky Jervais!

In the documentary, Dominic admits to sometimes going 72 hours without sleep and they interview him and his family about how this effects their life. It really brought back memories of my sleepless night and how it effected my marriage when I was at the height of my insomnia.

His sleep depravation was really making his life a misery and he would be classed as a particularly chronic insomniac – having suffered from long bouts of sleeplessness since his teenage years.

I think you’ll find it interesting and it may help you see that you are not alone with this condition.

Edinburgh Sleep Centre
I won’t spoil it for you – but there is an amazing simple technique offered up by Colin Epsie one of the Directors at The Edinburgh Sleep Centre. Called Sleep restriction – it appeared to show some stunning results. I’ll let you make your own mind up…

Check out the clip yourself…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrsCl_hnaWc

Hope you find it interesting and of some help.

Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com

Gaby Roslin gives up coffee to get a good nights sleep...

BBC TV Sports Presenter Gaby Roslin recently admitted to suffering from insomnia.

Worried about how it was affecting her career – she was willing to try anything to
get over her sleep depravation.

So how did Gaby get over insomnia?

Simple, she curbed the coffee. She commented “I recently gave up coffee and now I’m sleeping much better”

She added that she had started to be concerned about how much the lack of sleep was affecting her appearance – and how she had started to look drawn. She went onto admit that she had started to use more and more make up to hide the bags under her eyes.

Now cured – she recently said “Sleep is the best beauty fix I know of!”

I’ve already posted information on the effects of coffee and caffeine on sleep – but it’s good to get a celebrity to come out and admit a problem with sleep and back up the positive effects of giving up coffee.

If you have problems sleeping – its a simple first step to make.

Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com

Insomnia Definitions – D & E

More definitions of key insomnia terms – this time letters D & E

I recently detailed definitions of terms relating to insomnia for letters A,B & C.

Here are some further definitions for the letters D and E, I really hope they help clear things up and help you to understand some of the things you hear about when you are researching cures.

There are so many weird and wonderful scientific terms – when I first ended up suffering from insomnia it took me ages to research and work out what each of the things meant.

So I hope these definitions help you understand more about you condition and cures.

DIURETIC – Something that promotes urination! Taking diuretics like tea and coffee before bedtime can lead to numerous visits to the toilet during the night.

DEEP SLEEP – A heavy, relaxing sleep state – sometimes also known as Slow Wave Sleep or Delta Sleep.

DROWSINESS – When your brainwaves slow down. This is the first stage of sleep and a manifestation of tiredness.

DELAYED SLEEP PHASE SYNDROME (DSPS) – This is where your body clock is running late. It basically stops the sufferer from finally falling asleep till very late then having severe problems getting up in the morning.

DOUBLE BLIND – A technique for working out cures for insomnia where placebos are given to some patients.

EPWORTH SLEEP SCALE – A scale devised to measure sleepiness during normal daytime activity.

So there you go – that’s letters D & E done. I’ll post some more definitions soon. Hope it helps bust the jargon used on many sites.

Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com

The 16 Most Common Causes of Insomnia.

In order to find a cure to your sleep problems it is important to firstly understand the causes behind your insomnia.

Make a list if you have to – it’s one thing that worked well for me – but do whatever it takes to get a close, objective look at your lifestyle to determine what isn’t working in your life.

Now, you may say you have an extremely successful marriage, a good business or enjoyable career, a lively circle of friends, and a steady bank account, but look beneath the surface just a bit. What, really, is going on physically or in that restless unconscious of yours?

You probably wouldn’t be reading this article if you were perfectly healthy and happy and could fall asleep at the drop of a pillow. You’re struggling to function at your peak, and you’re fighting something that you may feel you can’t control.

The good news is that you can control many causes of insomnia. These are the most common:

• A change in diet, or a poor diet;
• Generalised or specific stressors;
• Depression and anxiety;
• A recent traumatic experience;
• Any new medications;
• Additional health problems, or new health problems;
• A change in your everyday routine;
• Frequent travel, or recent travel, particularly crossing time zones;
• Lack of exercise, or being overweight or underweight;
• A poor sleep environment, with noise or too much external stimulus;
• An irregular sleep schedule;
• A negative/hopeless attitude about sleep, and a dread of bedtime for fear that you won’t sleep;
• Clockwatching;
• Shallow or ineffective breathing;
• Use or overuse of over-the-counter, prescription, or herbal supplements to aid in sleep, which often disturbs the quality of sleep; and
• Smoking, drinking alcohol, or taking in too much caffeine.

So try to identify the cause or causes that most apply to you, and then look towards altering that aspect of your life.

Remember, getting the right kind of sleep is as crucial to maintaining your health as breathing. As you age, your ability to withstand life’s stressors reduces. It is critically important that the first step you take toward reconditioning your body and mind is to make sleep a priority.

The best sleep occurs when you are comfortable and not over stimulated or distracted. To help get to sleep and stay that way, you need to firstly identify which aspect of your life is causing this distraction or stimulation and then begin to work towards changing it.


Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com