Hormones! Who needs ‘em? Well, evidently, women who want to sleep through the night need them, at least in moderation. If you’re suffering from insomnia and are also in menopause, you’re not alone. Hormone fluctuations in the body of a woman in menopause can contribute to insomnia.

If you’re suffering from insomnia related to menopause and are looking for relief, it helps to know WHY you’re not sleeping. You need to look at the underlying issues to determine why you’re not sleeping.

I’ll bet that one of the main culprits is the lovely hot flash. As adrenaline courses through our bodies, we break out in sweat. We often awake when the adrenaline rush hits our brain (or when the sheets are too wet – whichever occurs first!). And after you are awake, with a racing brain, it’s hard to calm down enough to go to sleep. You end up lying in bed, staring at the clock, wishing you could just get enough sleep to get through your day tomorrow.

And even if you’re not experiencing hot flashes, you still may not be immune to the side effects of menopause and insomnia. Women who are experiencing insomnia are often worried about “the change”. Pair that with a constant jumble of thoughts from an overactive mind – a lethal combination when you’re seeking a restful sleep.

Some tips for overcoming your menopause related insomnia:

If your problem is with night sweats:

Be sure to keep soft, light layers on your bed. If you’re too hot and have to throw off a heavy cover, you’ll wake up. Try covering up with a sheet, a light blanket and then maybe a light throw.

If your mind is racing and you can’t calm down enough to fall asleep again:

Keep a radio at your table with soft music available to calm your mind. Don’t watch TV in bed – it stimulates your mind and provides distracting light in the room.
Worried you’ll wake your spouse? Relaxation techniques can be done quietly and without getting up out of bed

And if you think you’re experiencing anxiety or stress due to menopause and insomnia, try these techniques to ease your mind at night:

If you don’t already exercise during the day, start now. Exercise is known to wear out your body but it is also a great stress reliever.
Yoga is a wonderful form of exercise for women of all ages, and you will learn some great poses to use for relaxation at night.

By: Bridgett Raffenberg

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Bridgett Raffenberg is a former technology teacher who loves techno-gadgets and social media.
To learn more about Insomnia Symptoms, join others at www.InsomniaSmptomsFAQ.com where you will find this and much more, including detailed information on Causes of Insomnia

Technorati Tags: help sleeping, menopause and insomnia, tips

Hot Flashes and Insomnia – Are They Related

Hot flashes may seem relatively harmless, but when you consider that they can actually cause insomnia for a lot of women, you start to realise just how debilitating they can be if left unchecked. Their relationship with insomnia is when a woman experiences a hot flash during the night, which naturally wakes her up rather suddenly.

One of the more debilitating symptoms of hot flashes is their impact on our ability to get a good nights sleep. A deep and uninterrupted night’s sleep is too long overdue for 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 girl friend of mine once suggested to me that the reason women wake during the night is so they can “keep the fire going”, referring to a state of affairs during our ancestors time thousands of years ago. Personally I’m not so sure, but even Shakespeare wrote about it in Macbeth where he enlists the services of a physician to treat 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

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.

Even though insomnia is a fairly common experience for post menopausal women, there isn’t a “one size fits all” solution. As with every other symptom of menopause, you need to determine how it’s affecting you, and what the best cause of action will be. Don’t simply start popping sleeping pills to get through – they only offer short term solutions at best.

The first approach should be to consult with your health care practitioner or doctor and review your medical history. This can help narrow down your options and make your decision easier. For some women, some form of hormone replacement therapy may still be the best short term answer.

Insomnia – Is It Age Related

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.

The deep sleep comes in stages three and four, which are also known as Delta sleep patterns. These stages are where we get the most benefit. They are deep states of sleep were we are totally unconscious and fully “under”. Stage five is also called REM or Rapid Eye Movement sleep, which is where we dream.

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 task on the list to figure out where we are having problems and what is causing the disruption to our sleep process. Do you have difficulty falling asleep, or do you drift off easily only to wake up soon afterwards. Are you continually wakening during the night, or just wake to early in the morning? Are the hot flashes causing you to wake suddenly, or do you experience one almost immediately you awaken?

Can Natural Herbal Remedies Help

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 Stop Hot Flashes From Disrupting Your Sleep

If your hot flashes are causing your insomnia, you need to find out what is triggering them. For some women it’s having a dream in the middle of the night that brings it on, for others it could be something as simple as a “spooky” noise like the heating system switching on. Rather than treating the symptoms with sleeping pills, look for the triggers and manage those.

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

In many cases, the solution can be as simple as changing your diet or your routine. Allocating 30 to 60 minutes last thing at night to winding down and relaxing can be time well spent. Relaxing in a darkened room is a great way to unwind and help your body produce its sleep hormones like melatonin. Don’t do anything stimulating before bed – like exercise, or hot showers.

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.

For more information visit insomnia and hot flashes

By Mike Spencer Published: 10/25/2007

Technorati Tags: insomnia and hot flashes, menopause

Understanding Women's Health

Most women going through menopause will experience hot flashes. Other common symptoms of menopause include irregular periods, insomnia, mood swings, …  Read More…

What Causes Irritability In Menopause?

No significant relationships were detected between vasomotor symptoms, insomnia and menopausal status and the 2 subscales of irritability. …  Read More…

Sleep disorders compromise good health

Likewise, during menopause, hormonal changes can lead to increased problems with insomnia, in particular, if a woman is dealing with hot flashes at night. …  Read More…
That’s all the news for today guys, so until next time, thanks for stopping by.

I have been an insomniac for nearly 8 years, my logest stint awake to date was 3 weeks with the whole of 2 hours of sleep dispersed throughout.. I just can't fall asleep untill around 5-6am and even then i'm usualy awake by 8am, I have a 2 year old who runs me ragged so when I fall asleep its a very restless sleep of thinking about the day to come, with him being so young, i don't want to take the doctors advice and use sleeping pills or valium, it's bad enough taking 4 different pain killers for torn cartiledge in my knee, i dont want him seeing me as a pill head as he grows up. I've tried several natural herbal remedies like Valerina, which worked for the first 3-7 days, then just stopped having any affect….can SOMEONE please help me?!?!?

Natural Sleeping Remedies – Sleep More Comfortably at Night

Discover the 5 natural sleeping remedies that can have you sleeping like a new born baby by the end of the day. These remedies won’t cure your insomnia completely, but they will definitely make sleep a bit easier to obtain.

Sleeping soundly at night isn’t as easy as some people think it is. In fact, too many people take “good” sleep for granted – they believe they’re entitled to it, even without using natural sleeping remedies. If they only knew how bad all of us insomniacs have it each night, maybe they would appreciate sleep-filled nights a bit more.

If you’re one of those sleepless zombies roaming around from place to place, then listen up. Directly below is a collection of natural sleeping remedies that you can use to alleviate your insomnia troubles and get the deep rest you so truly deserve. Using 1 of these remedies is good, but using them all is even better!

Natural Sleeping Remedies…

Herbal Bath: A warm bath filled with a few bath salts and several drops of insomnia herbal oil can really heighten relaxation and relieve stress. Soak in the warm bath for 15 minutes, then head off to bed.

Herbal Tea: This is a long known natural sleeping remedy. Simply pour a cup of hot tea (chamoile, valerian, or passionflower) and drink it down slowly before bed. Most insomnia herbal teas have strong sleep inducing effects; so even if you’re not all that tired, you will be when you’re finished drinking.

Herbal Aroma: There are many herbal aromas – like those of lavendar, valerian, and others — that have been scientifically proven to induce sleepiness. How can you use this fact to your advantage? Simple, light an herbal candle/incense and keep it near you while you sleep — take precautions to avoid waking up to a fiery inferno! Another great way to use herbal aromas to sleep better is to sprinkle some droplets of herbal oil onto a cloth or handkerchief and then place it under your pillow.

Massage: In terms of natural sleeping remedies, there isn’t a whole lot to say here. This particular remedy helps with relaxation and relieving stress; both of which will help you to sleep better.

Sound Therapy: Of all the natural sleeping remedies out there, sound therapy (aka sleeptracks) is the best, hands down. Why? Because it’s so easy and it’s so very effective. All you have to do is put in the sleeptrack (CD/tape/mp3/etc.) and then get into bed. The sound waves will make their way into your body and then they’ll head for your brain. Once there, they will caress and massage it until you are fast asleep. It truly is the lazy way to cure insomnia.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways in which you can cure insomnia fast and effectively. Just choose one of the above natural sleeping remedies and start enjoying more peaceful sleep.

Being serious about curing your insomnia means being serious about finding natural cures for insomnia. Having said that, take a few minutes of your time and head over to the best insomnia treatment website on the web, http://www.SleepTracks.org. Not only does the site specialize in insomnia treatment, but it can guarantee a natural insomnia cure for you!

Are you suffering from insomnia?

Sleeping disorders are raising a problem for the people who wish to sleep after a day long tiring work.

Sleeping disorders have become quite common in most of the countries across the world. People suffer from problems such as falling asleep, inability to stay asleep, and failure to feel restored by sleep.

In general, the causes for sleep disorders can be categorized into internal, external and due to disturbance in the normal circadian pattern. Most often, sleep disorders are associated to diseases of any organ and a major factor for internal causes of sleep disorder. It is common that most of the diseases manifest with a disturbance in the normal sleep pattern. However, serious sleep disorders can be caused because of medical conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, sleep-related gastroesophageal reflux, peptic ulcer, fibrositis syndrome, back problems, and neck problems. Any impairment in the brain such as central apnea and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease are also potential cause for sleep disorders. Breathing problems are also major causative in cases such as obstructive sleep apnea and snoring.

In the case of endocrinal changes, sleep disorders are evident symptom such as in cases of thyroid problems, in which patient are with insomnia or over sleep. The sleep problems associated with menopause and pregnancy related ones are very common. The alteration in the circadian rhythm is a major causative for many sleep disorders. Shift workers usually experience sleep disorders due to their altered sleep pattern and jet lag is a reason for sleep disorder among plane travelers.

Life style factors such as alcoholism and intake of alkaloids or caffeine can also contribute to the cause of sleep disorders. The environmental factors include light, noise, and change of bedding. The intake of certain drugs Lotronex and Tramadol are also proven to cause sleep disorders. The consumption of any particular substance may also attribute sleep disorders in some patients. Anyway, the causative factor will differ from one patient to the other.

Rozerem Online is a new development in sleep therapy, it comes under the class of drugs called sleep medications. Rozerem affects chemicals in your brain that may affect sleep. Rozerem is prescribed for the treatment of insomnia characterized by difficulty with sleep onset.

Please visit our recommended website http://www.benzer11.com/rozerem.html for more information.

Olivia Andrews, writing for http://www.benzer11.com/rozerem.html is a freelance journalist and has written many reviews on subjects such as finance, education, health, entertainment, music, gifts, crafts, travel, apparels and mobile phones.