Meno matters
Find out how getting more familiar with your monthly cycles could help improve how you sleep at night.
HORMONAL CHANGES CAN wreak havoc on sleep. In turn, sleep deprivation can affect hormone levels. Some women struggle with sleepless nights leading up to their period, while others feel fatigued when their period is over.
‘Female sleep problems are linked heavily to hormone levels which fluctuate throughout a women’s monthly cycle and can become imbalanced,’ says award-winning private GP and menopause specialist Dr Sumi Soori (drsumi.com), who has teamed up with mattress experts Simba. ‘By tracking your menstrual cycle it may be possible to improve your sleep just with the awareness of what is happening to your body.’
Oestrogen, progesterone, cortisol and melatonin are the main hormones that affect sleep. At different times of your cycle, you are going to feel differently both physically and emotionally, which will then impact your quality of sleep.
‘When you sleep well, it means that when you wake up your body is releasing the appropriate amount of cortisol, which then releases the appropriate amount of oestrogen and progesterone. But when you don’t sleep well, you don’t have the right balance of hormones – and then that can lead to not sleeping well. It’s a vicious cycle,’ she adds.
‘The first step to positive change is making women aware of when and why they don’t sleep well, to better manage their sleep,’ says Dr Soori, who suggests women keep a sleep journal for three months. ‘This will not only help you begin to see how the pattern varies throughout your menstrual cycle, but will give you a better understanding of what to do during the times when sleep is impacted. And it will enable you to regain control of variations in sleep to give you more consistent slumber throughout the month.’
For the purposes of tracking and hacking your cycle, your menstrual cycle is split into four segments or “seasons”: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Knowing what to expect in and from each one, will help you plan better and be better equipped to get a good night’s sleep, or know how best to recover.
By getting to know your unique monthly rhythm, you can start to predict and plan around when your sleep suffers most. ‘Armed with this knowledge, you can sleep better, feel better, work better and be kinder to yourself by working with your body and hormones instead of against them,’ says Dr Soori.
SUMMER your ovulatory phase
Summer is the final hormonal push towards ovulation. The release of the mature egg occurs mid-cycle or roughly 14 days before menstruation and is triggered by high levels of luteinising hormone
