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As well as being a frustrating symptom of menopause, hot flashes can have some unpleasant side effects of their own - insomnia being one of the more physically debilitating ones. Experiencing a hot flash during the night not only affects how you feel, it interrupts your sleep patterns and has a longer term impact on your health. My grandma used to say she had "eyes like saucers" when her hot flashes were keeping her awake at night - I think she meant she was suddenly wide awake and unable to get back to sleep - but we certainly got the picture. It seems that hot flashes, and insomnia in particular have plagued us for a very long time - as even the great Shakespeare wrote about it in Macbeth when he employs a physician to deal with his wife's insomnia: " Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Race out the written troubles of the brain; And with-some sweet oblivious antidote cleanse the stuft bosom of that perilous stuff which weighs upon the heart." Well, at least that's what it sounds like to me. Has HRT Had an Influence on Insomnia For Menopausal Women So we know insomnia and hot flashes have been with is for centuries, but it seems to have escalated dramatically just recently during the last few years. Many people believe it to be related to the HRT scare that was publicized a few years back - where the clinical trials suggested that the risks of using hormone replacement therapy greatly outnumbered the benefits. Many women are now being plagued again with menopause symptoms and problems they thought they had left behind. But there are still a lot of options that can provide effective solutions to these issues. Although it's fairly common, particularly for menopausal and post-menopausal women, insomnia and sleeplessness isn't a "one size fits all" problem, but with a few simple approaches, it's fairly straightforward to determine which treatment would be best for you. The best place to start is by consulting your doctor or health care professional, and discussing all possible options and potential side effects. Believe it or not, some form of hormone replacement therapy could still offer the best short term solution. How Aging and Insomnia Interact It's well known that as we get older, our sleeping patterns and habits go through changes. We tend to spend more time in the first two stages of sleep. Stage one is called transitional sleep, and stage two is light sleep. Both are non rapid eye movement (NREM) stages of sleep. Stages three and four are known as deep or Delta sleep, and these are the most restful - these are the stages we need to get to quickly and remain in longest. Stage five is known as REM or Rapid Eye Movement. This is when we dream and take up about 20 percent of our sleep time. As we get older, typically into our fifties, we tend to spend more of our sleep time in stages one and two, with the obvious consequences - sleeping lighter and more prone to be woken up. So we get tired earlier in the day, and tend to wake earlier in the morning. But there are always options open to us to enhance our sleep time, not matter how bad it has got. First, you need to define your sleep pattern and problem. While one woman might have difficulty falling asleep, another might have trouble staying asleep. One woman might be awakened because of hot flashes, but someone else might wake up and then experience a hot flash. Other women might find themselves waking earlier and earlier. The Role of Natural Herbal Remedies While there are some very specific herbs for menopause, not all herbal remedies are everything they claim to be - so tread carefully. Over the counter sleeping medications can help for a while, but these should be viewed as a short term solution to help you start sleeping properly again. Your aim is to create a new sleep pattern (like your original one when you slept right through the night), rather then rely on drugs to make you sleep. How To Stop Hot Flashes From Disrupting Your Sleep If hot flashes are waking you up, you should look for the triggers that bring them on. That might be a specific smell for one woman; a dream in the middle of the night for another. Manage the hot flash trigger, rather than take a sleeping pill. Sleeping pills don't manage hot flashes, they just deal with the symptoms. It's definitely a case of finding out what your body needs, and working with it. Drugs and medications aren't the best thing at keeping your body in harmony. Sometimes all it takes is changing your routine or diet. Spending a half hour in a darkened, cool room increases sleep hormones like melatonin in the body. Avoid stimulating activities before you go to bed. That hot shower at night can trigger hot flashes. Exercising late in the day might spike adrenaline, making sleep difficult. Diet is also very important - what we eat has a huge impact on how our body works. Some speciality teas for example can induce hot flashes, so choose carefully and do a bit of research. Believe it or not, carbohydrates also increase your sleep hormones, so if you're on a low carb diet you may want to make a few exceptions in the evening. And warm milk can be a great help to induce sleep, but I'd recommend a non-dairy alternative like soy milk.
Article Source: http://www.health-fitness-for-all.com
Don't suffer with hot flashes and insomnia any longer. Wendy Jones shares her experiences of insomnia and hot flashes on her blog about dealing with symptoms of menopause
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