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Original poster

If you’re approaching 50 and have trouble sleeping...has anything helped?

66 replies

dameofdilemma · 02/10/2020 10:45

I can get to sleep but increasingly finding I wake between 2-4am and struggle to get back to sleep.

Not sure whether I should be taking magnesium, evening primrose oil or something else entirely....

I do all the usual things to aid sleep, healthy diet, regular exercise, limit caffeine/alcohol and screen time etc.

OP posts:
Mrsjayy · 02/10/2020 10:48

I take Kalms if im having times like that 2 an hour before bed., I do wake but manage to fall back over quickly.

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 02/10/2020 10:51

HRT helped that for me

suspiciousbutdelicious · 02/10/2020 10:52

i just take wine and codeine. not really recommended but hey ho, at least a couple of nights a week, i get a good sleepGrin

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Sunnydaysstillhere · 02/10/2020 10:53

Sleep naked!!. Apparently it has great benefits all round but it does help me sleep better!!
Dh gets told to stay firmly on his side!!
Grin

ihatethecold · 02/10/2020 10:53

HRT helps me. The progesterone part I take at night really helps.

IsThisNameTaken · 02/10/2020 10:55

HRT patches - worked miracles for my sleep

BlastEndedSkrewt · 02/10/2020 10:56

a cup of Pukka bedtime tea knocks me out and helps me go straight back to sleep if I wake up in the night which is often

Destinysdaughter · 02/10/2020 10:57

Nytol. I'm asleep within 20 mins and I stay asleep all night.

FoxBaseBeta · 02/10/2020 10:57

No advice but at 42 I'm the same, if I I wake at any point between 2-4, I know I'm not getting back to sleep for another 2 hours at least. It's destroying me...so I'm watching for answers.

GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 02/10/2020 11:00

Hey, I've found my people! It genuinely feels miraculous if I manage to sleep through.

I've only just turned 42. Could I be peri-menopausal?

FoxBaseBeta · 02/10/2020 11:04

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal

Hey, I've found my people! It genuinely feels miraculous if I manage to sleep through.

I've only just turned 42. Could I be peri-menopausal?

That's what I'm thinking, my periods are still pretty regular but I think my hormones are all over the place. I turned 40/41 feeling absolutely fine but feel like I've aged 10 years in the last year.
Original poster
dameofdilemma · 02/10/2020 11:05

Thanks all. Dp just bought that Pukka tea so will try it.
Have used Nytol and Piriton in the past and while they help me fall asleep, haven't helped with staying asleep. Ideally would like to avoid dependence on drugs if poss.

Don't really want to launch into HRT yet if I can help it (can you be peri and be having relatively regular periods?).
Are there side effects with HRT?

OP posts:
MissSmiley · 02/10/2020 11:41

Definitely HRT, I'm 48 and started waking up in the night having always slept well before, within a couple of days of my first patch I was sleeping through again
Solved my palpitations too

KatyMac · 02/10/2020 11:53

Sorry hrt for me too

I have chronic fatigue and 6 weeks of not sleeping caused a dreadful episode

A HRT patch and i was asleep within 2 hrs

Lisette1940 · 02/10/2020 11:54

I'm 49 and exercise worked for me. Took up running.

Lisette1940 · 02/10/2020 11:55

Ah I see that you do exercise anyway. Perhaps increase it a bit.

ihatethecold · 02/10/2020 12:01

I started my HRT at 43. I’d had symptoms of being peri menopausal for a while before but hadn’t connected the dots.

bengalcat · 02/10/2020 12:02

HRT

trunumber · 02/10/2020 12:02

Those who used HRT - what kind and how long did it take to help?

The80sweregreat · 02/10/2020 12:06

It was really bad for me when we had that hot spell of weather too. Tossing and turning couldn't sleep and felt rough all day . It was horrible.
Then I went back into some herbal tablets out of Holland and Barrett called 'black cohosh ' and I'm a lot better now. I still wake up but it's less time awake than before. You can buy them online as well.
I'm mid fifties and out of all the menopause symptoms this has been the worst thing.
I dint want HRT but that is also meant to help.

Tickledtrout · 02/10/2020 12:06

Vegetarian diet, v little/ no alcohol and physical exercise. Running 40 minutes plus; strenuous walking 2hrs; 20,000 plus steps. On days I manage this level of exercise I tend to sleep through.

TheYeaSayer · 02/10/2020 12:07

I’m 51 and haven’t been suffering too badly from peri, but I found upping the exercising quotient even further helped with disturbed sleep.

Also wine 😊

hoochymamgu · 02/10/2020 12:25

I'm 59, not on hrt anymore. Headspace app/meditation each day helps, that and ovaltine every night, and the thought of giving up work soon Wink

Timshortforthalia · 02/10/2020 12:28

Sorry - hrt here as well Grin transformational.

But also headspace app.

dancingthroughthedark · 02/10/2020 12:28

I was really struggling with lack of sleep and tried the A Vogel Menopause support supplement. Within a week I was sleeping through the night again with no hot flashes, had far more energy during the day and most important for me was far less anxious. and my regular headaches disappeared. I don't take them all the time anymore but now and again I take them for a month if I feel I am getting a bit tired and my sleep starts to get disturbed again.