Hands up women of a certain age, who else is awake at roughly 3am every morning? I wasn’t until pretty recently and it is beyond frustrating isn’t it. Fortunately most times I manage to fall back to sleep again but it is still rather annoying.
Understanding the WHY
I was not prepared for perimenopause. I didn’t even know it was a thing until I was knee deep in irregular periods, hot flashes, weight gain and rage. I have spent the last few years reading and learning as much as I can to understand what happens to our bodies as middle aged woman and why.
So what’s the reason for this early morning wake up? The easy answer is to blame hormones but there is a little bit more to it than that. Before I explain it, I just want to remind everyone I am not a doctor or a health care professional – what I am going to share is what health care professionals have explained to me and what I have read.
Our bodies function according to a rhythm – the color of a sunrise sends a signal to our brain that tells it it’s time to wake up, the sunset does the opposite, it signals the brain to start releasing melatonin so we can sleep. Cortisol has it’s own rhythm that allows us to have energy through the day but then calms down in the afternoon so we can relax into the evening and sleep. Serotonin, glutamate and melatonin also work together to ensure than when the sun goes down, we sleep.
Back in the day when life was simpler – no phones, less stress etc – people functioned more naturally according to their bodies rhythm. We don’t do that any more which has resulted in disruptions in our bodies natural rhythm.
During the early hours of the morning, often around 3am, cortisol is released to signal the body that it is nearly time to start waking up, this cortisol release shouldn’t wake you up with a jolt, and for many it doesn’t but when perimenopause enters the room, chaos ensues. The reason chaos ensues for the woman of today is because our bodies as woman are literally burnt out and our bodies are struggling to regulate our stress response. When oxytocin and serotonin levels are stressed, they can’t help regulate our stress response properly so more cortisol gets produced which is why you wake up and why you often feel anxious when you do.
In short – we have too much stress for our bodies to deal with which messes up our natural rhythm which causes things like disrupted sleep, weight gain and a few other fun things.
So what do you do?
The simple and best answer is move to a farm with no cell phones or online live where you can wake up with the sun, farm the land for your food and go to bed with the sun.
But that is not possible for most of us, ok pretty much all of us.
The common thread through everything I have learnt about perimenopause is the importance of managing your stress. Our stressful lives today are at the heart of the most of our issues, especially as women whose bodies are run by hormones.
I have spent a lot of time over the last few years learning how to manage my stress and I can say, with certainty, that it does make a difference. It is hard though because often we feel we can’t control the stress in our lives – demanding job, small babies, loss, divorce etc. I am not going to give you some hippy types tips on how to manage stress because it is something we all have to figure out depending on where we are in our life – for me its setting clear work boundaries, walking regularly, doing things just because they bring me joy, breath work.
What I am going to share is a few things I have tried that help me to sleep better.
- Consistent bed time – this helps your body get into a rhythm.
- Magnesium glycinate and Ashwagandha before bed.
- Ditch the bright lights before bed – TV, cell phones etc – yeah I know its almost impossible but at the very least dim the lights in the evening as much as you can.
- Watch the sunrise and the sunset.
- Make sure your room is cool enough – the recommended temp is 18C. When your cortisol starts to rise, your body heats up so if you are in a cool environment it helps to cool it down again.
- Eat early – ideally 3 hours before bedtime.
- Weighted blankets can help – I tried this and while it definitely does help my sensory issues, it makes me too hot.
- If you do wake up at 3, don’t grab your phone, try some breathing techniques to calm your body down instead. (It does work sometimes).
Nothing is more disruptive to life than a lack of sleep or disrupted sleep. Understanding why our bodies react the way they do, helps us know what changes to make to improve things.
If you are part of the 3am club – what has helped you?
