One of the more debilitating symptoms of hot flashes is their impact on our ability to get a good night sleep. A deep and uninterrupted night’s sleep is too long overdue many postmenopausal women. Many women say they just lie awake, unable to go to sleep or stay asleep, and worrying about being alert for the day ahead.

“Having eyes like saucers” is what my grandmother used call it. Insomnia plagues more than 56 percent of postmenopausal women, and it’s not a new problem.

A friend of mine suggests that “women’s bodies are programmed to awaken in the middle of the night so they can stoke the fire.” Even Shakespeare’s Macbeth entreats a physician to cure 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.”

Impact of Hormone Replacement Therapy

Yet, even though insomnia has been around for centuries, it seems to have just gotten worse. That’s because many women dropped hormone replacement therapy after news that the risks outweigh the benefits. The abrupt withdrawal led to uncomfortable symptoms like night sweats, hot flashes and vaginal dryness – and sleeplessness.

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.

Sleeplessness is a common complaint I hear about often. But sleeplessness isn’t a one-size-fits-all problem. Just like most every other menopause symptom, you need to determine what treatment best fits your particular sleep concern.

These days, women are learning to tailor treatment to their own medical history and risk factors. That often means sitting down with a health care provider and researching all the options carefully. For some, hormone replacement therapy is a reasonable short-term remedy.

Insomnia – Is It Age Related

Both men and women experience less-restful sleep after age 50. Within the five stages of sleep, stage one, transitional sleep, and stage two, light sleep, are known as non rapid eye movement, or NREM sleep.

Stages three and four, deep sleep or Delta sleep, are the most restful. Rapid Eye Movement or REM sleep, stage five, when dreaming occurs, occupies about 20 percent of sleep time.

After age 50 we spend more time in stages one and two, so we sleep lighter and are more likely to wake up. We get tired earlier in the evening and wake up earlier in the morning. But that doesn’t mean we can’t improve our sleep.

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. Some herbal products might be beneficial. Some specific herbal menopause remedies could be the answer, or over-the-counter sleep aids might help for awhile, but don’t rely on the sleep aids too much – it’s never that simple. It’s better to create a new sleep pattern, a new routine that signals the body that it’s time to sleep.

How To Cure Your Hot Flashes

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 not a matter of your body working against you, it’s that you’re finally working with your body.

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 also plays a part. Some hot teas – cinnamon tea, for example – might induce hot flashes and should be avoided. Carbohydrates actually increase sleep hormones, so that low-carb diet might be a culprit. Mom was right. Warm milk does induce sleep. But skip the cookies. Wheat toast should be just the ticket to help usher you into dreamland.

A great way I find to relax is to meditate last thing at night for 20 or 30 minutes. Personally I listen to some meditation music for about half an hour before I go to bed – I usually find that I’m almost asleep anyway when the music finishes.