Sleeping Problems Get Old

If there is one thing we “vintage women” share in common, it’s trouble sleeping. Are you with me, Girls? There you are having a lovely sleep and suddenly you’re wide awake and the clock says 3:00 am.

Either you’ve had a few restful hours and feel like you could get up and run a marathon, or else you wake up dreadfully tired but every thought in the world comes creeping into your head. If you’re like me, you are planning lists and going over . . . and over . . . and over them. Then you realize that another hour has passed. Yikes!  That’s when I start worrying about everything I have to do and how badly I need to be rested and refreshed. Another hour. Groan. It becomes a vicious cycle.

Life Cycles

For me this started about the time the oh-so-wonderful night sweats began. And that is no coincidence, because insomnia is a result of our new hormone levels. (Better said, lack of hormone levels.) At my blog site BeautyCoachingForBabyBoomers you can read all about Bioidentical Hormones. But in a nutshell, higher levels of progesterone help with sleeping. In fact it acts like a sleeping pill.

No-nos

Sugar

There are a few things we do that can also encourage bad sleeping patterns. Drinking too much wine or mixed drinks that have an incredible amount of sugar is not good. You fall asleep, but once the sugars starts kicking into your blood stream, you get on a sugar high.

Eating Late

Another thing to stay away from is eating late. By this I mean you should give your body a chance to digest your evening meal for at least 3 hours before you hit the hay. (It’s much better for weight control as well.)

Screen-time and Google

Once you are awake it is very tempting to just take a look at your email or start googling your health symptoms. Oh lovely, what you diagnose yourself with could lead to further illness, stroke, and possible death! Shut out the light and try to go back to sleep.

Troubleshooting

This can also be the perfect time to go over financial matters or family troubles. Now it’s 5:00 am and you can hear the birds starting to tweet. That’s about the time I’m so exhausted that I fall asleep . . . for maybe an hour, but then the dog (who has had a perfect eight hours of sleep) scratches on the door. Time to get up, Mum!

Naps

You console yourself with the thought that possibly you can squeeze in a nap knowing full well it will ruin your sleep for the next night! Oh, the troubles we see.

So Do This

Eating and drinking sensibly, having your hormones checked and in balance, and having a wind-down routine like reading in bed before bedtime will all go a long way.

And if all that doesn’t help? A little Ambien will do the trick! Ask your doctor.

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