See how easily you can fall asleep

You’re at work, staring at the computer and your eyelids get as heavy as lead.  Your head starts to droop.  A little drool seeps out the side of your mouth.

Hello?  “Snap out of it,” you  berate yourself.  You know you got shitty sleep last night.  Hell, you haven’t had a good, solid seven or eight hours of uninterrupted zzzz’s for weeks…(months?)

Menopause will do that to a grrl.  Sleep disorders are a major complaint of 50% of all women in the midst of The Change.  It’s those damn hormones.  Estrogen isn’t the only one going south.  Serotonin is hopping that train, too.

Appropriate levels of this important hormone help keep:

your memory clear

your muscles moving

your blood clotting

your heart healthy

your digestion efficient

and you from being a total, raging bitch.

It also makes healthy sleep possible.

So gals over the age of 40 progressively lose their serotonin mojo.  Insomnia becomes chronic.  Stress levels rise.  Anxiety comes a’courtin’.  It’s hard to drift off into la-la land when your poor sleep cycle starts to affect your family, your work and your very lovely personality.  Then immunity lowers, concentration goes out the window and depression sets in.You can see this vicious spiral.  And it’s through no fault of your own.  Fuck me…I have this to look forward to?

And that’s just serotonin!  Estrogen and progesterone hit new lows causing night sweats, night muscle twitches and sleep apnea.  My advice? Start focusing on your sleep hygiene now.  You might be pre- or peri-menopausal. We ought to count ourselves lucky to have time to get our sleep muscles in shape with some of my suggestions.  Already a menopausal goddess?  Try this multi-faceted approach tonight to soothe yourself to sleep.

• Exercise daily
• Stop drinking caffeinated beverages after 12 noon
• Cut back on caffeine overall
• Stop smoking (a huge stimulant)
• Set your alarm for the same time each day (in other words, don’t sleep in until 10:00 a.m. on your days off)
• Don’t stay up past the point at which you get sleepy in the evening ( in other words, don’t wait to get your second wind)
• Make your bedroom TV-free
• Learn some deep breathing techniques for relaxation
• Meditate or pray before bedtime
• Use aromatherapy oils like lavender, rose, neroli, chamomile, jasmine in a nice massage lotion or on a cotton ball by your pillow
• Find a trusted acupuncturist to help sort out hormonal imbalances
• Buy Susun Weed’s book ” Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way”
• Do some easy yoga stretching

Yoga is spectacular to get you off sawing logs.  Mind, body and spirit are engaged.  They can all just relax…maybe for the first time in a long while.

Being a floor nurse on an intensely busy oncology floor, I am on my feet a lot.  I once wore my pedometer and found on that day I had walked five miles,  not to mention all the countless times i had bent over to do a task, lifted a patient up from a commode or boosted them up in bed.  Rewarding work–yes-but also physically and emotionally demanding.

One soothing pose I do after I come home from work is viparita karani, legs up the wall pose.  I take a shower, get into my jammies and put my tired dogs up the wall.  It can be done with blankets or bolsters under the lower back or without them.  This is an excellent pose for restoring tired legs and feet.  It is a nerve soother and inspires deep, relaxing breath work.  I have seen it contraindicated during menstruation and pregnancy and for those with eye problems as well as high blood pressure.

I lay there, letting my “brain drop” as my teacher, Ann, says.  Releasing my eyes into their sockets, relaxing my jaw and tongue, I begin to watch my breath.

Crawling out of this pose carefully, not very gracefully, I use a slow inhale to decrease light-headedness.  Knowing I have treated myself with kindness at the end of a twelve-hour work day fills my reserve so that I may serve others with energetic joy the next.

I found a very short yoga video by Sadie Nardini on Youtube that is super useful.  The point is to not do it fast.  She is merely doing the quick demo so you can take your time with each pose on your own.

I like it because it includes some breath work.  Fifteen minutes of this sequence and your tired, over 40 ass should be in bed and dead to the world.

We are all so unique.  No one way, one technique will always work.  Show yourself some loving kindness and try one or two of these tonight.

What is one trick you use to get some good sleep?  Do share…another woman over 40 might just need your idea.

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