Sleep help

[MinnieMountain]

Has anyone got any tips for staying asleep?

My sleep is completely shot at the moment. I eat healthily, exercise, don't have any particular worries. Getting to sleep isn't a problem so long as I turn my light off by 10pm. But I often wake up at 4am and can't get back to sleep.

It's driving me nuts. I take magnesium already. I'm not allowed to take HRT.

How old are you? Once you get to peri-menopause, sleep, and lack thereof, is crap for many years.

How much mg magnesium do you take?

I'm 47. My periods are petering out and my moods have stabilised.

Bump.

If you can't use HRT (previous cancer/ blood clots?) would your GP refer you to a menopause specialist? There are other drugs available on prescription. If possible financially you can refer yourself to menopause consultants- very few need a GP referral.

Also, and (sorry if this is not the case, but it does crop up here a lot), make sure you really can't use HRT. There is still some out of date info out there which some GPs still use (incorrectly) as a guide.

Is it magnesium glycinate ? Has to be that one to help sleep . Plus read a book before bed ( paper is best) these two things will help enormously.. phone light doesn’t help for the deep sleep . Also reduce how much water you drink before bed much much less means don’t need the loo

I started taking Ashwaghanda last summer in the hope that it would reduce my cortisol (and menopause belly) and my Fitbit showed that my deep sleep improved quite markedly so although I may not sleep as many hours as I would like, the quality of my sleep has improved. I’ve attached a screenshot which you’ll see after it’s approved. I don’t know how it will play out with any other health issues you have.

Sadly I still have the belly ☹️

I take magnesium threonate as that seems to work for me. I'll have another look at the different types though.

I had hormone-receptive breast cancer at 39, so told not to take HRT. I did a private consultation with a specialist and was basically told it's my choice but not advised.

I already read before bed and don't for an hour before bed. My "sleep hygiene" is good. It's waking up at 4am and not being able to get back to sleep that's the problem. I want to murder DH when he says he "only" got 8 hours' sleep.

I'll look up ashwaghanda. Thank you.

Oh bugger. There's evidence that it's inadvisable for people who've had hormone reactive cancer.

I’m exactly the same op, although I’m on HRT.
Go to sleep fine but wide awake at 4am.

No advice but sending sleepy sympathy!

Hi op
You need a lot of magnesium glycinate. I take 300-400mg of elemental magnesium three or four hours before I go to bed. It really helps.

That said, I am happy with 6hrs sleep especially in the summern! I. Walk the dogs early then exercise. I do always nap at lunchtime too.

I’m on HRT but still had rubbish sleep. For years. Every night, I’d be wandering around at 2, again at 4 etc. About 2 months ago, having tried all the usual suggestions including magnesium and an old style antihistamine (now linked to dementia, so I stopped that immediately), my husband made me watch the episode of ‘Just one thing’ with Clive Myrie where the impact of drinking tea was investigated. I thought I had nothing to lose, so I switched from my habitual 3 coffees in a morning to tea straight away and also gave up alcohol (I never drank on a school night, would have a couple of glasses of wine or a cider / rum and coke on Fridays and Saturdays, so it’s not like I was drinking much anyway).
Life changing!
Obviously not scientific in any way, but for me, the difference is incredible. I now sleep from about 11 - 5 (I might be waking then because of light mornings) and if I do wake up, there’s a decent chance I’ll get back to sleep. My husband had a glass of wine on Friday night so, out of curiosity and because I didn’t have work the next day, I thought I’d have a small one to see if it had an impact - yup, 3am, I was wide awake and that was that.
So, I’ll make an effort to drink 3-4 cups of tea a day (I drink it black and have a variety of different types to choose from - doesn’t seem to make a difference what types I drink). No caffeinated coffee at all any more ( I now buy Taylor’s decaf coffee bags if I fancy a coffee at the weekend) and no alcohol. Funnily enough, I don’t miss the alcohol at all (ginger beer seems to be a good switch for me as a ‘hey, it’s the weekend’ marker) and the gains in sleep, and therefore how I feel everyday, are enormous. Hope something like that might work for you too.

The Clive Myrie Just One Thing is on iPlayer - series 2 episode 4.

I’m in the 4am club too at the moment. 👋🏻

I think it is the light that is waking me up so I have bought some blackout curtain linings for my bedroom and a blind for the landing window.
Slept till 6 this morning so am keeping fingers crossed that this is the solution.

I always get a good nights sleep if I go on a long run in the day. About 8 miles does the trick, but I can’t do that every day!

I put on an eye mask that I bought for night flights. It’s a very soft comfortable black one. It helps. I’m not sure why I wake up but I definitely think daylight (or the streetlights) stops me from falling back to sleep. The eye mask removes all light.

This is me. Can I ask when do you take the ashwahganda. Does it help quickly or does it build up? On HRT and magnesium so need to try something as poor sleep is awful

Melatonin gummies. Game changer.

I take a capsule just before I get into bed. I can’t remember exactly what date I started taking it but my Fitbit would indicate that it was around June when my deep sleep jumped from around 1 hour per night to around 1 hour 30 mins and stayed there or above since. The extra time in deep sleep seems to have been taken from the other sleep stages but I can’t pinpoint exactly where from.

I’d read about it, and picked up a cheap bottle from Home Bargains to see if it had any effect (before buying the expensive, celebrity endorsed version) and was so impressed that I’ve stuck with it.

Where do you buy melatonin gummies from @loveawineloveacrisp?

I added a blackout blind in June. It helped for a bit but I'm back to frequent 4am wake ups.

It sounds like there's no magic cure. It's reassuring that HRT doesn't necessarily help.

We also added blackout blinds a few months back and they seemed to help temporarily but exactly like you they were not a cure, I get to sleep easily but wake after a few hours, generally 4-5 hours later, deep sleep hits about 20 mins most nights.

I will say I go through phases of early waking. A while ago I was sleeping like a log till after 6, no idea why!

Biovea.

I’m probably perimenopausal. I have no symptoms at the moment apart from itchy ears! However, maybe waking at 4 every morning is a symptom. Whatever it is, it’s exhausting so I feel your pain!

no real advice as I also cannot take hrt. I cannot get to sleep until about 1am then waken every 2hrs but sleep ok from 5am and then struggle to get up for work . It’s awful . I am trying sleep patches night 2

Please no more suggestions that I take artificial hormones. I've looked into it enough to be certain that I won't take any.