Is your sleep elusive?
Ever since I discovered Zeo, I’ve become pretty interested in sleep and in discovering the reasons why my sleep (and so many other women’s that I know) is lousy. What I’ve learned is that it’s while it’s easy to define the problem, it’s not so easy to assign an overriding factor. In fact, it appears that the more researchers delve into this elusive but necessary component of our lives, the less they truly understand.
Sleep issues tend to plague both men and women as they age. Indeed, deep sleep (or at least its electrical representation, also known as “electroencephalographic wave amplitudes”) has been shown to dwindle was we grow older, resulting in lighter and frequently interrupted sleep. Add factors such as hormones, health, life strain/midlife issues and psychological stress and you may end up exacerbating an already existing sleep deficiency or creating an entirely new problem. Moreover, researchers have shown that distinct sleep patterns might be associated with different influencing factors. For example:
- Difficulty falling asleep may be associated with menopausal symptoms in general, stress, and lower stress hormone levels.
- Awakening during the night might be associated with age, being late in the menopausal transition (before moving into full-blown menopause), having had early menopause, hot flashes, depressed mood, joint pain and stress.
- Early morning awakening may be associated with age, hot flashes, depressed mood, anxiety, joint pain, stress, and lower estrogen/higher fallopian stimulating hormone (FSH) levels.
Let’s add to the confusion, shall we?
In a study appearing in the upcoming November/December Menopause journal, researchers evaluated health, menopausal status and sleep difficulties in 962 women who were assessed annually from birth through the ages of 48 to 54. The findings?
- The percentage of women experiencing moderate (trouble sleeping a little) or severe (trouble sleeping a lot) sleeping difficulties increased by more than 10% between the ages of 48 and 54.
- Menopause status (i.e. perimenopausal, postmenopausal, perimenopausal, early menopause due to hysterectomy or initiation of hormone therapy) appeared to be related to the presence/severity of sleeping difficulties. In fact, women who had had a hysterectomy, were postmenopausal or had started hormone therapy in the previous year had 2 to 3.5 times greater odds of severe sleep difficulty compared to premenopausal women. Of note, some of these women had not experienced poorer physical or psychological stress than their peers.
- However, with regard to moderate sleep difficulties it becomes more difficult to pin down: once the researchers accounted for certain factors that might skew the results, such as psychological stress, vasomotor symptoms/hot flashes and depression, only women who had had a hysterectomy remained at risk. Although the reasons for this are not entirely clear, the researchers say that sleep difficulties among these women in particular may be related to underlying health before they entered menopause.
The key take-away of this study is that for some women, menopause transitions (i.e. hormonal shifts as they go from pre to perimenopause, and then from peri to postmenopause) influence the severity of sleep disturbances regardless of age or other life or emotional factors. This finding is in line with findings from other studies, which have linked specific hormone-related symptoms such as night sweats to sleep disturbance/fragmented sleep.
However, having had a hysterectomy appears to lead to moderate interruptions in sleep, possibly as a result of prior health issues. So, severe sleep issues = menopause, and moderate sleep issues = ???
The downside of this research truly lies with semantics: how do you define moderate sleep disturbances and in turn, treat them? Do you look for and address the cause or influencing factors? As noted in an accompanying editorial, multiple factors in various combinations in certain women may very well contribute to overall sleep quality.
In other words, when it comes to sleep, treat the individual, not the masses. Aging, life, hormones all come into play in certain individuals at certain times.
When it comes to sleep, one size does not fit all.
Read MoreGot Zzzzz’s? And the winner is….
Last week I posted about sleep and a new personal sleep coach that I’m trying out – Zeo. I offered to give away a bedside monitor in exchange for a blog comment about sleep, and a willingness to share your thoughts about Zeo on Flashfree in a month’s time. I only received a few comments but I did the old hat trick and pulled out one name:
Meryl K. Evans! Congratulations Meryl – send me your mailing address and I will ship the unit out to you this week.
As a special thank you to Peg and Heather, Zeo has graciously offered free shipping on all units ordered through October 31. Just use FREESHIP at checkout for ground orders.
I’ve got one more night of collecting baseline data and then I start the regular program. So far, I am fascinated and hopeful that it may identify specific factors that are screwing up my sleep. Stay tuned.
Read MoreGot Sleep? Zeo Personal Sleep Coach helps with those Zzzz’s. Want one?
Did you know that sleep problems have been reported in as many as 40% of women in the late perimenopausal stage and as many as 35% to 50% of women in postmenopause? The culprit? In addition to vasomotor symptoms, i.e. hot flashes and night sweats) lower estradiol and fallopian stimulating hormone levels can interfere with both falling and staying asleep. Add stress, emotional arousal, environment and alcohol or caffeine to the mix and you’ve got a woman on the verge. Personally? My sleep stinks; I wake up several times a night and regularly early in the morning, even though I rarely have trouble falling asleep. In fact, I don’t recall the last time I slept through the entire night.
So, how can I get more of those much needed Zzzzs? Well, I am hoping that Zeo can help.
Zeo is a home-based tool that uses SoftWave™ technology to track sleep patterns. The Zeo system is geared towards helping individuals understand how they are sleeping so that they can address factors (e.g. diet, stress, or environment) that may be profoundly hindering or interfering with their sleep.
Zeo collects information that summarizes the previous night’s sleep, including time spent in each sleep phase (i.e. light, deep and REM sleep), total time asleep, time it takes to fall asleep, and number of times awakened during the night, and displays it in a graph at bedside monitor.This information can then be uploaded so that sleep patterns can be tracked and trended along with individualized input about environmental and social factors that might disrupt sleep from night to night. Zeo also includes personalized sleep coaching. As the company says, the power of Zeo lies in its personalization, so that you can scientifically track your sleep phases and correlate them to the impact that daily habits have on your sleep. What’s more, I have looked at the scientific studies and the technology it uses to track your sleep not only favorably compares with what experts consider the gold standard for measuring sleep (polysomnography) but also does so in a range of healthy and “disordered” sleepers.
I’ve used Zeo for two nights so far. And guess what? It’s telling me that the fatigue I’ve been feeling is truly due to the fact that I’m not getting the restful sleep that I need. So, I am going to collect six nights of sleep information to create a foundation or baseline of my sleep pattern, and then undergo the Personal Sleep Program to see what I can change to optimize my sleep health.
I met a Zeo, Inc co-founder at last week’s epatient conference and after a conversation regarding sleep and menopause, he graciously sent me two units to share with my readers. I’ve given one of these units to a reader who is an insomniac and who is perimenopausal. But I’d like to give another Zeo to you. Here’s how:
Tell me in the comments section about your general sleep and how your symptoms or habits might be affecting it, along with steps you’ve taken or not taken to deal with the problem. The caveat? You must be experiencing some sort of menopausal symptoms or be in menopause and be willing to share your experience (anonymously) on Flashfree after a month’s use. If I get enough comments, I will randomly choose one winner to receive a Zeo Personal Sleep Coach monitor. What’s to lose? How about one more night’s sleep?!
[Disclosure: Zeo, Inc. provided me with three Zeo Personal Sleep Coach monitors – one via the epatient conference and two directly. Although this post was neither paid for or solicited by the company, I have eagerly agreed to write a post on menopause and sleep for their blog.]
Read MoreLooking for the Big Sleep?
Those of you who are going through hormonal shifts, night sweats or hot flashes knows exactly what I’m talking about. Sleep. Sleep, the elusive gold ring that plagues many of us going through the transition. How many sheep have you counted this evening? Or last night? Or last week? Heck, I’m ready to start my own version of Farmville. Any takers?
Experts say that as many as 63% of postmenopausal women have insomnia. Frankly, I’m tired.
So, before you let another sleepless, toss and turn type of night go by, you might want to pay attention: isoflavones may just take away the awakenings that go bump in the your night. Say what?! Mind you, this is a very small study, enlisting only 38 menopausal women. However, I can dare to dream (or think about dreaming), can’t I? Participants were selected on the basis of their sleep complaints, meaning that they had to have difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or constantly experience nonrestorative, insufficient sleep to avoid fatigue and lack of alertness during the day. They were given a lecture about sleep hygiene, menopausal symptoms and general healthcare and then had a general checkup, after which time, they were asked to take an 80 mg soy isoflavone (estrogen-like plant compounds tablet (containing mostly of a type of soy isoflavone called genistein) or a sugar tablet daily for four months. Thereafter, they were assessed for sleeping habits, general complaints and any changes in their condition.
The researchers say that not only did use of isoflavones decrease the frequency of moderate and severe insomnia in the women studied by more than 60%, but they also increased sleep efficiency, that is, the degree of alertness the women felt the day following a night of sleep and their ability to perform everyday activities and feel good while doing it. They attribute improved sleep patterns to a significant decline in the number and intensity of hot flashes.
There are several unanswered questions left by this information, such as whether or not soy will have this effect on a majority of women (remember, the study was small), how soy might affect lifelong insomniacs who also have menopausal symptoms, and if other soy compounds might provide equal benefits. I’d love to see more on this before drawing any conclusions. However, it’s good to know that eventually, tossing and turning might be a thing of the past.
Want more information on sleep and menopause? Check out these posts and please, share your experiences as well!
Read MoreSleep and menopause: four’s a charm
Daytime sleepiness? Researchers say that being in menopause, hot flashes, lack of physical activity and your partner might be the culprits. No surprises, right?
In a study appearing in the advanced online edition of the journal Maturitas, 149 women between the ages of 40 and 59 rated the frequency and intensity of their hot flashes and were evaluated for daytime sleepiness.At least half had hot flashes, of which about 43% were rated as very severe.
Not only did hot flashes increase the risk for daytime sleepiness by 2.6 fold, but, being postmenopausal increased it by as much as 6.5-fold. Being sedentary was associated with 3.4 times the risk for daytime sleepiness. What’s more having a partner that was not faithful was associated with an increase in risk by as much as 53%.
The good news is that most of these factors, save for being menopausal, can be modified or at least addressed to improve nighttime sleep and by default, decrease feelings of sleepiness during the daytime. If you feel unusually sleepy most of the time, it’s a great idea to speak to a healthcare practitioner who is helping you to manage your symptoms. There may be some important and effective steps you can take.
Read MoreThe domino effect
I’ve never heard of the term ‘Domino Effect’ being applied to menopause, although, if one thinks about it, it makes perfect sense. For example, hot flashes beget sleep disruptions beget mood swings, and so on and and so on.
But do they?
In a study published in Menopause Journal ahead-of-print, 55 women were asked to keep daily records of their symptoms for up to five years or until they fully entered menopause. whichever came first. The researchers then evaluated whether or not changes in hot flashes or night sweats would predict a change in sleep the very same day, and if these changes then predicted changes in moods the next day. They also factored in whether or not women were initially depressed to insure that any results they found would not be unduly influenced.
They found that daily hot flashes or night sweats accurately predicted same day sleep problems and disruptions, which in turn, worsened moods the next day. However, the researchers were unable to connect hot flashes and night sweats directly to shifts in mood without this interim step except for in women who were already mildly depressed.
Are you confused yet?
What this really shows is that while night flashes and hot sweats may affect overall mood swings during menopause, the reason is unlikely to be attributed directly to sleep disruption but rather to some other mechanism. In the long run, this may allow lead to better interventions that individually address these factors so that the sum of the parts becomes a more positive sense of well-being regardless of any physical disruptions.
Every action has a chain reaction. Hopefully, this finding will lead to something positive for us all.
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