February 2024

A Pause For Menopause –

• Mindset
• Menopause & Insulin Rsistance
• Menopause, Stress & Sleep
• Menopause and Inflammation

Today, I want to discuss stress and sleep, how they can be influenced by menopause, and how they affect how one faces the menopause transition.

Menopause Stress & Sleep

The Sympathetic nervous system

The sympathetic nervous system is often referred to as the fight or flight response, but really, it’s the part of your nervous system that keeps you alert. A certain activity level in your sympathetic nervous system is important for keeping you curious and productive.

The sympathetic nervous system increases pulse, breathing, and alertness by releasing adrenaline and noradrenaline into the blood.

Noradrenaline narrows the brain’s thermostat range, which causes hot flashes. Therefore, the best way to reduce hot flashes is to reduce stress.

The parasympathetic nervous system

The parasympathetic nervous system promotes digestion, sleep, and recovery. The vagus nerve is the thickest and longest nerve in the body. It connects the brain with all the life-sustaining organs in your torso, like the heart, lungs, and digestive tract. Activating the vagus nerve means activating the rest and repairing the side of your autonomic nervous system.

The reduction in estrogen and progesterone in menopause leads to a decrease in GABA, a calming neurotransmitter that protects you from the risks of stress. At the same time, nighttime cortisol bursts can cause insomnia, leading to an increased sympathetic response.

Overall, the hormonal transition that occurs during pre-menopause stresses the body. Therefore, support for the nervous system can be beneficial.

How to shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic

Some activities that activate your rest and repair system:

💚 Spending time in nature

💚 Building friendships and social connections

💚 Breathing techniques and meditation

💚 Drinking aromatic herbal tea

Menopause and sleep

Many women complain about sleep disturbances during the menopause transition. Sleep is crucial for well-being because it allows our bodies to repair and reboot.

Sleep and wakefulness are managed by the body’s inner metronome or the circadian cycle. The inner metronome uses two hormones: cortisol and melatonin. Cortisol is a daytime hormone that is meant to keep you alert. Melatonin is your dark hormone that promotes sleep.

Perimenopause causes disturbances in the body’s circadian cycle because your inner metronome is sensitive to changes in your progesterone and estrogen levels. Premenopause is associated with spikes of cortisol in the middle of the night that keep you up at night.

How to improve sleep

Strategies for a healthy circadian cycle:

💚 Morning light and evening dark – you want to spend 30 minutes in the morning in sunlight. At bedtime, you want to keep your bedroom in total darkness, and that includes blue lights from screens

💚 Eating 30 grams of protein in the morning sets up your metabolism and insulin, which regulates your inner metronome.

💚 Avoid alcohol as it impairs melatonin production.

💚 Use 5-HTP, an amino acid that is one of the building blocks of serotonin, and serotonin builds melatonin. So, if you wake up at night and can’t fall back asleep, use 5-HTP during the day.

I know it’s a lot. Many small things can tip off your endocrine system during premenopause and beyond. If you are curious to learn more or need help designing a lifestyle that will optimize your well-being, book a 20-minute free consultation with me. The link is in the comments.

Menopause, stress, and sleep can create a vicious cycle when hot flashes and insomnia increase stress that, in turn, messes up the endocrine system. To learn more …