#63: Tips for Better Quality Sleep in Menopause

Are you getting good sleep? Sleep is one of the cornerstones to thriving in midlife, and one of the biggest challenges for many women.😣

That's why I devoted episode #63 of the podcast to this topic. 

In it, you'll learn: 

✅ What the 3 stages of sleep are and why each is important

✅ How to plan your training to support good sleep

✅ Tips on eating & drinking to sleep better

✅ Preparing your body for sleep

✅ How to optimize your sleep environment

✅ Supplements & medications to help with sleep

Enjoy the show!

Transcript

#63: Tips for Better Quality Sleep in Menopause

[00:00:00] Welcome to 40+ fitness for women. I'm Lynn, your host. And today we are actually going to be talking about a topic that I have like brought up a lot of times. But I've never really done an actual episode on it. And that is on sleep. Because as if you've listened to my five pillars, Uh, to health in midlife sleep is really the number one thing that I would focus on. Because if sleep is out of whack, then pretty much everything else is out of whack. 

So in this episode, I'm going to talk a little bit about sleep. And then also share some tips on how to get better sleep and especially tips that are relevant to women in perimenopause and menopause. So. Let's start the show.

All right. So I am little bit obsessed with sleep. I have to admit, [00:01:00] and I've struggled with sleep issues already. Well, in my forties, I'm 53 now. I remember when I was still married, I had a lot of issues sleeping with my husband in the same bed. Because he was a little bit of a snorer. And back then, I actually suggested to him that, Hey, could we sometimes sleep in separate rooms because we had enough space in our house. Um, because I just, I just need a few nights of really good sleep and he was not really a fan of this idea. 

But anyway, once we were divorced, And I was sleeping on my own. I really got interested in this topic. So in about 2018, when Oura came out with their second ring, The Oura 2. I bought it. And really started tracking my sleep because I noticed it [00:02:00] had such a huge effect on how much I could like focus in the day. And how productive I was, how my workouts were feeling everything. So I got a bit obsessed about that. 

And I have to say that the obsession has continued even to the point where now as I've been dating, That is one of my criteria. Actually. For a good relationship is somebody that I can actually sleep with. Like get good quality sleep with them. So if you're a snore, you would have a very, very, very small chance of being able to date me because sleep, I just prioritize it. 
So, so highly. And I noticed that I just feel so much better when I've gotten enough sleep. 

And so over the years, I've tried different things to really optimize my sleep. And I want to share some of those things that have worked for me. I'm hoping [00:03:00] that when you walk away from this episode, you'll maybe have one or two tips that you can try to help you sleep better in mid life. And kind of the impetus for this episode is that I was out to dinner with some girlfriends who are a little bit older than me. 

And they were talking about how they're struggling with sleep. I mean, I guess I'm a little early because I went through menopause already in my mid forties. So when I hang out with women who are my age and a little bit older, some of them are still in that phase that I've already like lived through and survived through. And they were talking about. Yeah. I've been sleeping so badly. 
I need better sleep. And one of the women was like, oh, I have some tips for that. And the others were just like, oh my God. Yes, please share. I was thinking to myself. Okay. I guess this is not basic information that everybody out there knows. And then I started realizing that, yeah, actually I've been kind of sleep [00:04:00] obsessed. For a long time. 

So. Anyway, now I want to share it, this stuff with you. And one. You know, I don't want to go into like, all about sleep and the phases of sleep and how much sleep and all this kind of thing. Maybe. Maybe I'll try to get a sleep specialist in here. Sometime if somebody knows somebody or is a sleep specialist, please contact me because I'd love to interview you and discuss. Like sleep more. But I think it is important to know. At least about the different phases of sleep and a little bit about what they are doing for us. So. First of all, there are three phases of sleep, so there is deep sleep. There's REM sleep and there's light sleep. And they all play different roles in our like rehabilitating kind of our bodies sleep is a restorative state. 

So, [00:05:00] I know there's a lot of pressure to be like, oh no, forget your sleep. Get up at five o'clock in the morning and you know, do something and you're lazy if you're not. I completely disagree with that kind of a mindset, because I think sleep is kind of the first thing that you need to put in place. 
Then you can start like rocking your life. The thing about sleep is that the different phases of sleep take up more of your sleep time, depending on if it's early in the evening and late in the evening. You go through this cycle several times a night. But as Oura, tracks. Uh, what, what sleep stage I am in what I've learned. And I've also learned it through all kinds of talks by sleep experts. Is that in the beginning part of the evening, that's when you have the most amount of deep sleep. And the deep sleep is the one which [00:06:00] helps with your physical restoration. 

So that is when your body is repairing itself. So if you've done a weight training session, or any kind of workout session and your body needs to kind of recover from that. Or build muscle, then the deep sleep is important for that. And it's also important for our immune system to get itself back on track. The other thing that they've discovered about deep sleep, which is so, so, so cool. Is that, that is kind of when the brain cleans itself. So, uh, there's a little phenomenon. 

They've been able to take, uh, pictures of this and I forget what kind of scan they're using when they do it. But anyway, So basically what's going on in your brain is that. When your brain has this kind of byproducts, so trash and brain trash. It just like, kind of throws it out [00:07:00] and it hangs out in that empty. Well, there's not much empty space, but there's like a little bit of empty space around where your various brain cells and neurons and all these kinds of things are . And what happens in deep sleep is your brain gets like a shower and they can actually see this kind of shower, light looking thing and that rinses all that rubbish out of your brain. So deep sleep is really, really, really important. And unfortunately, deep sleep is something that we get less and less of as we age. 

And it's, for me, at least one of those things that I really pay attention to that I'm getting enough of it. And, um, I'll give some tips on what things I've been doing in particular for deep sleep later in the episode. And then, uh, the other one. I, you know what, I'm not telling you everything there is to know about these phases of sleep, right? 

Because this podcast would be [00:08:00] hours and hours. Long, but just so you know, kind of the gist of it. And then there's the REM sleep, which is the rapid eye movement. So R E M rapid eye movement sleep. And that's when you're dreaming. And that's a time when your mind is like processing. Um, emotions. Things you've learned that day. Uh, memories so that you remember stuff. 

So that is also really important for you that REM sleep. And then there's the lighter sleep that happens kind of. Well, for me, at least most of my sleep is the lighter. Type of sleep and that has its place too, but I'm more concerned about making sure. Well, I'm actually a little bit obsessed about the deep sleep because it is the restorative. 

And I noticed when I don't have that, then I really feel like I'm dragging. And by the way, besides like these kinds of things, just getting [00:09:00] good quality sleep is important for your body to, um, regulate your hunger and satiety hormones. So you may or may not have noticed this. I know I'm very sensitive to this, that if I haven't gotten enough sleep, I just crave. Caffeine. Sugar. 
Anything that will give me like quick energy to keep me going when I'm just dragging and dragging. So for that reason, I am really. 
You know, strict about getting in my seven to eight hours of sleep. When I hop into bed at night. I set my alarm for eight hours later. And I mean, I have the luxury of being able to do that because I work from home. And if I start my Workday at eight or nine is not a huge difference. I just work a little bit later, you know, it's just that I need to get stuff done. So, so in that sense, it is luxurious for me to be able to do [00:10:00] that. 

But. You know, I would recommend that you really try to get that seven to eight hours of sleep. A night aim for the eight, because actually the whole time you're in bed, you're not sleeping. And that's another thing that I've learned from Oura is that. There is part of that time that it takes for you to fall asleep. 
Then you may be awake at some points in the night. So rather aim for a little bit more sleep than not. 

Okay. 

And I can mention too, that I earlier in my career. I worked at a big company and had trouble asleep. I was doing traveling for my job. And actually did a sleep course. They have had, because it was a big company with tens of thousands of employees. They had one doctor there who would. Run these sleep clinics. And a lot of the tips I learned way, way, way back then. And have started applying them, you [00:11:00] know, back then, I mean more or less, but I've gotten much more strict about them as perimenopause and menopause, kind of screwed with my sleep. But one of the key things, you know, and some of these things, you're going to be like, oh my God, I've heard this and I'm not going to do this, but, but some of the key things are. 
To have a regular sleep schedule. 

Your body really does want to sleep. On a regular rhythm. And okay. If you're like me. Do you like to do some stuff that might go a little bit later on the weekends? I mean, for me, I like to go out on Saturday night and so it is not infrequent that I'm getting to bed at three o'clock in the morning. And yes, that throws my rhythm off. 

My body does not like that. And the other thing that it doesn't like is when I was talking about the deep sleep tips. Is that because your deep sleep comes in the beginning of your sleep cycle, like most of it will happen then [00:12:00] in the early part of your sleep time. Your regular sleep time. If you go to bed later. You'll just get less of it. So that contributes in, in my opinion, too, like the feeling of being like kind of groggy and not feeling like you've slept that. 
Well, it's definitely not a good idea to be like sleeping too little all week and then sleeping a ton on the weekends. Yes, you kind of need to catch up on your sleep. Uh, somebody compared it to breathing where, you know, if you hold your breath for a while, it's not like when you finally start breathing again that you breathe. 

Totally. Normally, no, you're like catch your breath for a moment and, you know, catch up with oxygen deprivation that you've given your body. And then you're able to start breathing. Normally it's kind of the same thing with sleep. So, so yes, you can [00:13:00] sleep longer on the weekends. I don't want to say that. 

Hey, if you're all sleep deprived, don't sleep longer on the weekends. Do. But, you know, it's not as good as if you had just like slept good amounts every day. If you got into the habit of sleeping good amounts every day. All right. And some things that. I've noticed, and these are studied things that can really affect the quality of your sleep are the things you are doing. During the day. Okay. 

So one of those things is when are you timing your workouts? So if you're doing hard cardio workouts, Where you are really pushing your body. You know, raising your heart rate. It might be that even medium cardio workouts, like going jogging. If you're doing them very late in the day, that can really affect your sleep. 

I've noticed that for myself and I just cut out doing any kind [00:14:00] of. HIIT or, you know, harder, like where it's going into the red zone. Uh, cardio exercising. I mean the last minute that a class could start would be at like 6:00 PM and I go to bed at 10, but I noticed that if I go at 7:00 PM, Then it messes with my sleep. 

I'm kind of wired afterwards and I can't really fall asleep the same way. And yeah. So that's something that you can look at, just timing your training sessions for earlier. And, uh, and especially the hard ones. 
I mean, I go to my gym and I see that they're starting these sprint cycling classes at like seven and eight o'clock at night. I'm thinking. What. How do these people sleep after that? I mean, maybe men don't have the same problems as we women. I don't know. I don't know if I believe that, but maybe not as bad of problems because we do have the perimenopause menopause things. Okay. 

So I do [00:15:00] weight train sometimes later at night. Because don't make it there before. And the one thing you can do is to do breathing exercises afterwards. And that is to lower your cortisol levels. Get your body out of that fight flight response into the rest and recovery. And those are very simple. Just breathe in for a count of two. Breathe out for a count of four, breathe in for a count of two out for a count of four. And you can do this while lying down like a Savasana you would do after yoga class. Or if you don't have time to like lay there, you can even do it while you're driving in the car. Going home or. I don't know, cooking dinner, taking her shower, whatever. But that, that kind of breathing. There are also other ways you can breathe. 

You can do a box breath, which is like, Two breaths in or two counts breath in. [00:16:00] Hold for two exhale for two, hold for two. That's another one. But these kinds of things help. Okay, so you could try those. That's easy enough. You do that for five minutes and I mean it's five minutes and you can do other things at the same time. Okay. 

And if you're going to the gym. Like for a weight training session then. Please do not use a pre-workout if you're going in the evening. Because the other thing that will mess with your sleep. 

And I do not believe anybody who says it doesn't. Is caffeine. Caffeine takes a really long time to go out of our bodies. And if you take pre-workout, that's like a huge jolt of caffeine. Do you not do that before your training session? 
Personally, I don't even use pre-workout, uh, might have a cup of coffee. 
If I happen to train before three o'clock. But, but that's it. Yeah, but the caffeine [00:17:00] three o'clock is my deadline. No caffeine after three. Okay. Unless I know that I'm going to go out. In the evening and, and be up until three, then I might have a little bit later caffeine. 

Another big change that I done or made. Is in how I use alcohol. So this is another deep sleep thing. Even if you just have one glass of wine. Uh, close to bedtime, it will affect your deep sleep. The amount of deep sleep you get. And as I said, the deep sleep is really important because actually, you know, this shower that I talked about earlier, They suspect. But that is an important thing for getting rid of the plaque that may be causing Alzheimer's or that is related to Alzheimer's. So I'm like, give me those showers. 

Oh. I want those brain showers. So I am not a woman who's going to [00:18:00] like have a glass of wine each evening, kind of to unwind. But rather I wait until that Saturday and if I want a drink, then I drink. If I'm not going out, then I kind of think. Is it worth it? Well a, the calories B the deep sleep suffering. 

So then I make that decision and maybe I have a cup of tea instead. Right. So. That's something to just consider. Because I know a lot of women love to unwind in the evening with that glass of wine. And it really is wreaking havoc on your deep sleep. 

And then a final kind of behavioral thing. Uh, about timing things is meals. So having a heavy meal right before bed. That also can affect the quality of the recovery that you have during your sleep, because your body is kind of working to digest that food. So, and I think. [00:19:00] It's not a bad idea to not eat for the one to two hours before you go to sleep. I mean for that reason, but also because that tends to be the time when people snack a lot. And my personal theory, and this is not been studied. 

So I haven't read a book about a study or anything, but my personal theory. As to why intermittent fasting seems to work for a lot of people, is that it stops you from doing those evening. Snacking in front of the TV kind of things. So if you can quote unquote intermittent fast so that you don't eat in that hour to two hours before your head hits the pillow. Then great, because that's going to help the quality of your sleep. 

And it's also going to help cut out that kind of tired snacking that you start to do. Okay. I don't, I'm not an advocate of intermittent fasting. I have not read [00:20:00] any like research studies on, on, uh, menopausal women, which would indicate that that is good for us at this age. I know there are a lot of people out there advocating it. 

I do not. But not eating for the hour or two before bed. Yes, that could be a good idea. Or at least something to test, if that helps you. 

Okay. So then if we go into other things that have really helped with my sleep and these don't require kind of behavioral changes, but these really have made a difference for me. So. I make sure that my bedroom is dark. It makes me sleep so much better. In fact, in my current home, I have two sets of blackout curtains. And I have my bedroom in the basement, which has like a postage stamp size. Window. 

Like there's no light coming in through that window, but I anyway cover it so that when I turn out the lights, it's like [00:21:00] dark and okay. I live in the north. So in the winter, this is not a problem because it's like dark except for a few hours during the day. But in the summer, oh my God, it is light until almost midnight. 

And then the sun might go down for a moment and then it's back up. So that kind of blackout curtains are really key for me. Me to get sleep. So try that. That's an easy thing to implement. Right? Blackout curtains. I have a Venetian lines, plus just a roll curtain that, you know, I pulled down. In my old house, I had huge windows, one whole wall. My bedroom was window. So I had the roller curtains and then blackout. What are these like drapes, I guess, is what they're called, where you have to pull them in front of the window. Yeah. That was a little harder. But I did it and it did help me sleep. 

The other thing is keeping the temperature in your bedroom. Cool. So. For [00:22:00] me, that means that in the winter, I actually don't even turn the heat on and my bedroom it's in the basement, which is underground. So it doesn't get as cold as outside when it's like really, really, really cold. It'll just be cool enough that I'm like in my wool socks, under my duvet with an extra wool blanket thrown on top and I sleep like a baby. It is the most amazing thing. And. In the summer, if I have air conditioning access to air conditioning. I will use that and a fan, if nothing else, like cool sleeping conditions, so cool and dark. 

And also not having the bright lights before you go to bed. So if you're like hanging out in your bedroom with your honey or, you know, folding laundry, whatever you're doing before you go to bed. Don't do it in like operating room lights. So get some small lamps around the room so you can have a little bit more dim, calming lighting. I [00:23:00] even went so far as to buy these. Uh, they're like these box lights from Ikea. And they're pretty cool because I can turn them on super bright because my basement bedroom is totally dark. If I don't have really bright lights so I can use super bright lights down there. But it also has a setting so I can turn those lights. 

Well, I can dim them, but I can also make them red. So I sometimes use the red light feature if I really am feeling like, okay, I'm having trouble sleeping. So I need to just put all of my tactics into use right now. 

And of course the one that everybody hates and nobody follows. Is no screen time before bed. I'm the worst at this? So, yeah. Everybody knows this. I don't need to say much more about that, but in addition to the screen time, remember, like, don't check your work emails right before you go to [00:24:00] bed. That is also something that I can't help it because you know, I have clients who might be getting in touch, but. Try not to check those work emails when you go to bed, because it's just going to get those work things. You know, in your head and try not to work right until bed. 

And I know those are hard things because sometimes the job just demands. It. But then to get away from that, maybe try. Having the dimmer lights. Doing the breathing exercises. You know, before you actually go just sleep to separate a little bit. Don't go straight from like turned off the computer, hopped into the bed, . Maybe take five minutes of breathing.

Okay. And one of the things that we women start to need to do in midlife is go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. And that is something that can really disrupt your sleep if you're running around. So, Hey, let's start with the most basic thing here is hydrate yourself during the [00:25:00] day. Don't just wait till the last thing at night and then start drinking a ton of water because that's going to make it much more likely that you will have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. So try to avoid that if you can. I know water bottles are really in nowadays. Great. So drink during the day. And then if you are one of those people that does need to go to the bathroom, then make sure that you don't need to be turning on a whole bunch of lights. So like nightlights that they kids use. I have one. Which it has a motion sensor. So when I start moving it like gives me just enough light to get into the bathroom, find the toilet paper, all the things. So that helps me kind of stay in that half asleep state. Even if I run to the bathroom. 

And then finally a few interventions, which aren't just habits. These are things I take. So I had sleep issues already. You know, [00:26:00] in my forties and got help from the sleep specialist. Like I mentioned, And what I have been using ever since then is melatonin. So melatonin, I take it every single night.

 Because. It wasn't stressed. That was keeping me awake. I would be lying in bed. Totally comfortable. My head empty. Feeling good. And it was like, the lights just wouldn't switch off, you know, the lights in my head. It's like the switch. It was just not. Shutting and the melatonin really helped for that. 
And then when I hit menopause and started having a lot of sleep issues again, I did finally get on the hormone replacement therapy. And I think that has helped as well. So that's another thing. One can try. It also helped me a lot with the brain fog. And so many other issues. 

So, if you are noticing [00:27:00] that you're not feeling like yourself, you think you might be in perimenopause or menopause, or even if you're post-menopause. This it's not too late to get on hormone replacement therapy. They're doing so much more. Uh, research on that they're getting so much more positive. Effects of being on HRT. That it is worth having that discussion with your doctor. For example, when I went on it. So I've been on it. What do I want to guess? Five years, six years, something like that. And, uh, and at that time I was in my mid forties. And my doctor was like, oh, and when you turn 50, we'll like take you off. Well nowadays. They're not thinking that way anymore. So this, they are just learning more about what are the benefits and. That there really are very few downsides. Of course. This varies, depending on whether you have some particular illnesses or risk [00:28:00] factors. So always talk to a doctor who knows something about HRT, and that is not going to be every gynecologist because they really do not train them very much on this midlife stuff in med school. So it needs to be. Uh, gynecologist who has like, kind of taken this as their like, area of interest and studied more about it. 

Okay. And in addition to having the hormone replacement therapy and the melatonin, I do take magnesium before bed. And I started taking magnesium because I was having like foot cramps when I was training. And then I've read somewhere that, Hey, take it before bed. And I started doing that and I would claim that that does help me kind of relax and fall asleep better. So the combination of the melatonin and the magnesium, of course, the HRT. And I, I have to say I do sleep pretty darn well nowadays. [00:29:00] So there there's hope even for people who have sleep challenges, like I did. 

Okay. So to summarize, because that was a long list of things to do, but maybe there was one or two in there. That you hadn't thought of or had forgotten about. So let's go through them. So keeping a regular sleep schedule, even on weekends, if possible. Not doing hard workouts, close to bedtime. Or if you do, and otherwise doing breathing exercises. To lower your cortisol levels and calm your body down. Avoiding heavy meals before bed. So even not eating for the hour or two hours before bedtime helps with having better recovery in your sleep. Of course. No caffeine after. Some people are more sensitive. I cut off at three [00:30:00] o'clock in the afternoon. Some people need to do it earlier in the day. So try that out and see what works for you. 

Not having alcohol on normal days. Right? Save your alcohol for the parties. Don't make it a daily habit because it really interferes with your deep sleep, which is super important that shower for your brain. Make sure that your bedroom is cool. And dark. And let's not stimulate your brain before you get there. In other words. Don't be like sitting in some bright lights before you're going to bed. Cut down on the screen time. And preferably let's not be working on our computers until the last minute, every night. 

And then those trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night, try to avoid them by timing your drinking of water. Earlier in the day, so that your bladder isn't very full at night. And if you are somebody who needs to go to the [00:31:00] bathroom, then how about some nightlights so that you just have minimal lighting in order to get it done, rather than having to like flip on the big lights.

And then finally, some more medical or supplement interventions. You could try melatonin. Magnesium before bed. And hormone replacement therapy can also help with sleep issues.

So it was a really long list. I'm sure it wasn't exhaustive. I would love to hear if you have some additional tips that have helped you. Uh, you know, get better sleep in midlife in particular, if you're a woman. And, um, let me know if any of these were useful to you or new to you. I love to hear from you guys. So please, if you have any kind of comments on the podcast, Please hop into my Instagram DMS. And reach out or you can email me. [00:32:00] My, my contact information is on my website. And also I think in the link in the show notes. Anyway. So that was about sleep. It was a long one this time, but hopefully you walked away with a few good pointers. And I will talk to you next time in the meanwhile. Happy training.