Menopause insomnia is more common than you may think. While it’s frustrating in and of itself, it also exacerbates all the other symptoms of menopause and can be the cause of mood swings and low libido. In fact, an April 2008 issue of Journal of Clinical Nursing published a report of a survey in which participants deemed sleep problems as the worst menopause symptom. It came in ahead of forgetfulness, hot flashes and irritability.

The usual pattern

For most women, sleep problems during menopause usually take the form of waking up in the early morning and not being able to get back to sleep for half an hour or more. What wakes you up may be night sweats, an anxiety attack, nightmare or seemingly nothing at all. Other women have trouble falling asleep when they go to bed at night.

The causes

Although the exact causes of menopause insomnia aren’t know, it’s thought menopausal women often wake up in the middle of the night due to fluctuations in body temperature, which are caused by hormone fluctuations. Usually you wake up when your body temperature has reached a high enough point that your system wakes you in attempt to get you to do something to cool off. That’s why so many women often wake up right before having night sweats.

For other women, there may be no obvious feeling of being too warm, but from a change in estrogen levels, the body’s regulatory systems have gotten the signal they need to cool things down. In either case, it can take between 20 minutes to an hour or more before hormone levels settle enough to let you go back to sleep.

Another common, though often overlooked, cause of insomnia during menopause are emotional issues like stress, anxiety, and depression. These feelings are often responsible for an inability to fall asleep after going to bed. Stress and worry keeps your mind skipping from one problem to the next and just won’t let you fall asleep. Although sometimes these emotions are caused by hormone fluctuations, they can also be caused by the prospect of facing major life changes such as retirement.

Natural remedies

So, now you know what might be behind your insomnia, but the question of how to get to sleep during menopause still remains. Fortunately, though, since sleep problems aren’t exclusive to menopausal women, plenty of natural remedies for insomnia have been developed and many of these are remarkably effective.

How you treat your insomnia depends on the cause, though. If you believe night sweats are the primary cause, you’ll do best with treatments that get those under control, such as black cohosh and wild yam.

For sleep problems related to emotions, there are two tracts you can take. The first is to find a way to work through the stress. This may be meditation, relaxation techniques, or guided imagery. Use these to come to grips with any social or job related issues before you go to bed.

If those don’t seem to work for you, try one of the herbal treatments for relaxation like chamomile, hops, lavender, passion flower valerian, kava kava, or St. Johns wort.

Not being able to sleep during menopause is a fairly common symptom, but it’s not something you should ignore. Lack of sleep can worsen just about every other symptom of menopause, including weight gain, and just make you all around miserable. To keep yourself healthy, do what you can to manage emotional stress and consider natural treatments for night sweats and insomnia.