With increasing age, sleep problems become more and more common. Menopause is a time when many women begin losing sleep or, if they\’ve been losing sleep before, to lose even more. Insomnia, which is defined as difficulty getting to sleep or getting back to sleep after awakening, is one of frequent signs of menopause and perimenopause symptoms.

Another of the common and annoying symptoms of menopause is restless leg syndrome (RLS), in which unpleasant tingling or painful sensations in your legs make you jerk or twitch them to relieve discomfort. This may be curtailed by making sure you have plenty of magnesium, B-group vitamins, vitamin E and iron in your diet.

The drop in estrogen that causes night sweats is also responsible for frequent awakenings, but an inability to fall or stay asleep is often aggravated by unhealthy eating and drinking habits, medications, chronic anxiety, stress and depression which is responsible for alertness. These foods should be avoided late in the evening.

Caffeine is a stimulant that affects individual organs as well as your overall metabolism, and it is a major cause of sleep disturbances. If you suffer from sleeping problems, you should cut your intake right down. You should not drink excessive amounts of liquids at bedtime, as these will fill your bladder and disturb your sleep. Try not to eat a heavy meal before bedtime; it\’s best if you can eat no later than 7 p.m. – but don\’t go to bed on an empty stomach either.

Herbal Remedies For Menopause

Passionflower can help to calm restlessness and anxiety. Take it as: an infusion (2 to 5 grams of dried herb three times a day), as a fluid extract (10 to 30 drops three times a day), or as a tincture (1:5 in 45 percent alcohol). Alternatively, try valerian in capsule form; 150 – 300 mg may be taken an hour before bedtime.

Chemical Treatments

Short-acting sleeping pills may be effective in the short term, but there is always the risk of habituation (addiction) with these drugs, and you may find you begin to need an increasingly larger dose to reach the same effect, leading eventually to being unable to sleep without them.

Melatonin supplements – which mimic the action of the brain hormone of the same name, producing drowsiness – are used in the United States for treating sleep disturbance. However, they are not available in the UK except over the internet and for restricted psychological problems.

If you are looking for medication to treat persistent insomnia it is best to consult your healthcare professional.

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