Menopause and Sleep: From Exhausted to Energised

This month’s featured practitioner article is from Zoe Phoenix BA(Hons), Dip.Hyp, NLP Pract, HPD, a dedicated Mindset Coach, Hypnotherapist and HypnoMenopause® Practitioner who specialises in empowering women to transform from a surviving to a thriving mindset.

Sleep is essential for our overall well-being. It not only affects our mood, but also supports the renewal of our cells, helps reduce stress, and is crucial for various bodily functions.

It's important to recognise that getting enough sleep is fundamental to our health. Never feel guilty about resting for 8-10 hours—this amount of sleep is incredibly beneficial for your body!

Sleep can even aid in weight management. Research suggests that individuals who struggle with weight gain are often poor sleepers.

It’s also logical that the longer we stay awake, the more energy we require. As a result, we’re more likely to reach for food, leading to the consumption of extra calories and, over time, potential weight gain.

Sleep is also vital for maintaining a youthful appearance. Lack of rest can make us appear older than we are, as the body focuses on conserving energy, preventing skin cells from renewing as they should during sleep.

Additionally, sleep has a positive effect on our libido. While menopause can reduce sex drive, fatigue can have a similar if not greater impact!

For all these reasons, it’s important to prioritise sleep and ensure your body gets the rest it needs—8 hours or more each night—to stay healthy, happy, and energised.

Sleep disturbances are a common issue for women during menopause, with the most frequent problem being waking up during the night. Many women experience significant sleep disruptions during perimenopause, even if they have never had trouble sleeping before. Fluctuations in oestrogen and progesterone affect the hormones responsible for regulating body temperature, leading to hot flushes. These hot flushes, which occur at night and are known as night sweats, can have a profound impact on sleep patterns, with some women waking up drenched in sweat. The hormonal changes mentioned earlier can also trigger anxiety, making it difficult for women to fall asleep and sometimes causing them to wake abruptly, feeling anxious or panicked.

The effects of poor sleep extend to nearly every aspect of life. Menopausal sleep disturbances have been linked to a lower quality of life, decreased work performance, and reduced productivity. They can also have long-term effects on health and well-being. Many of my clients have identified sleep problems as one of the most challenging symptoms to manage during this time.

Common reasons why people struggle to sleep

Stress and Anxiety, Depression, Poor Sleep Hygiene, Chronic Pain or Medical Conditions, Hormonal Changes, menopause, Caffeine and Other Stimulants, sleep disorders, such as insomnia, sleep apnea, or narcolepsy, Irregular Sleep Schedule, Overthinking or Mental Overload, Exposure to screens/phones, dietary Factors (Heavy or spicy meals late in the evening, alcohol)

How Does Menopause Affect Sleep?

During menopause, hormone levels, especially oestrogen, interact with other hormones like melatonin, which regulates sleep patterns.

Melatonin levels decline with age, affecting sleep as we get older. Additionally, the decline in progesterone and oestrogen can disrupt the secretion levels of melatonin, further impacting our sleep cycles.

Progesterone has a naturally calming effect on the brain, so its reduction may make our brains more active during times when rest is expected.

Progesterone also influences breathing stimulation and muscle relaxation, which can contribute to sleep apnea, a condition where the throat’s walls relax and narrow during sleep, disrupting normal breathing. However, other factors like obesity or heart defects can also contribute to sleep apnea.

Other Menopausal Symptoms

Various menopausal symptoms can interfere with sleep, such as:

• Vasomotor symptoms: Feeling hot or cold and excessive sweating can easily disrupt sleep.
• Urinary issues: Frequent urination can disturb restful sleep.
• Joint or muscle pain: Discomfort from pain can inhibit sleep.
• Anxiety or low mood is also known to cause non-restorative sleep by keeping us in the lighter and more alert phases of sleep, leading to frequent awakenings and insufficient rest.

What Can You Do?

There are several holistic treatments I would always refer clients to first rather than reaching for the sleeping tablets or drinking alcohol as a sleep crutch that only offer temporary relief

Check out my sleep hygiene checklist, but the most common reason for sleep deprivation is a poor sleep hygiene, having at least an hours window to wind down and prepare for bed can pay dividends, and this can be as simple as no phone/tablet etc at least 1 hour before bed (ideally hrs.), Reserve your bed for sleep and intimacy only. If you use it for watching TV, working, or other activities, your brain may start to associate the bed with wakefulness, making it harder to fall asleep. Establish a sleep schedule, take a warm bath/shower, so some gentle stretches or relaxation exercises, practicing mindfulness or deep breathing techniques

If your restless nights are being caused by lifestyle factors such as stress, anxiety, racing thoughts, worry, depression, or overthinking, I would suggest setting aside about 10 minutes before bed to sit quietly in your bed with a journal. During this time, write down anything that’s on your mind, whether it’s a specific worry, a list of tasks you need to remember, or thoughts that are keeping you awake. By putting these thoughts on paper, you’re giving your mind a chance to release them, allowing you to "offload" the mental clutter and prevent your unconscious mind from trying to hold onto everything while you’re trying to sleep.

This simple act of journaling creates a separation between your thoughts and your need for rest. It helps signal to your brain that it’s okay to let go of these concerns for the night because they’ve been recorded and can be addressed later. You’re effectively easing the pressure of having to remember everything in the moment, which can calm the mind and make it easier to transition into sleep. Over time, this practice can help establish a sense of closure at the end of your day, reducing the chances of your thoughts spiralling as you try to fall asleep.

Hypnosis or Meditation sleep track 

Both hypnosis and meditation are powerful tools to help improve sleep, as they can calm the mind, reduce stress, and promote relaxation. Using sleep tracks based on these techniques can be an effective way to guide you into a restful state. There are hundreds of free sleep tracks on YouTube, but I would of course recommend listening to my own here for free! Be sure to listen to it each night for at least 4 weeks.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or Hypnotherapy

CBT or Hypnotherapy are highly effective approaches for improving sleep, especially for those struggling with insomnia or other sleep disturbances. These therapies are evidence-based methods that help people change the thoughts and behaviours that negatively affect their sleep. Unlike medications, where they just deal with the problem/symptoms (not sleeping) CBT & Hypnotherapy addresses the root causes of sleep issues, helping people build healthier sleep habits for long-term improvement.

HypnoMenopause®  is also an integrated approach, which draws on various approaches within hypnotherapy, including CBT-hypnosis, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Mindset Coaching, Solution Focused Therapy and Mindfulness. This is a programme which can not only alleviate sleep issues, but other menopause symptoms, It also places an importance on education and self-hypnosis. This therapy is a strong combination which can have permanent results. 

A Quick Sleeping Trick

If you are lying awake, fretting about being unable to get to sleep or go back to sleep, get out of bed, and leave your bedroom.

Do something calming in another part of the house without any technological stimulation or caffeine for about 20 minutes. Then, go back to bed.

Keep doing this until you fall asleep. You may be tired the next day, but this will help retrain your body into a different sleep pattern and change your circadian rhythm, the natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours.