Hot flashes, mood swings and other perimenopause symptoms can interrupt your sleep leaving you feeling frazzled, tired and moody.
Here’s a tried and true bedtime routine that can help you get your much-needed 40 winks.
This relaxation exercise can help you unwind and bring you out of your ‘work-mode.’ Progressive relaxation exercises are easy-to-do, and can help you tackle insomnia and sleeplessness in a natural way.
Follow These Steps
- Plan 5 to 10 minutes without TV, phone or any conversations.
- Lie on your back and make yourself comfortable.
- Slowly, bring your focus to your breath.
- Deliberately tense, and then relax each part of your body, one at a time starting from your feet and working your way up to your face and head.
- Tense each part for 3 seconds, then release it and imagine all that tension melting down into the earth.
- Finally, when you are done, take a few minutes to breathe and relax and feel yourself detached from all the tension.
Dr Andrew Weil, renowned expert on holistic health, recommends this progressive relaxation exercise along with some specific breathing exercises to help a variety of conditions including insomnia.
Following these simple steps could help your sleep problems and other perimenopause symptoms in a natural way.
Dr Marina Rose, DC uses a holistic health approach to help women deal with perimenopause symptoms in and around the city of San Jose, CA. She has found that when the stress hormone cortisol is out of balance then sleep will stay out of reach until 2:00 in the morning or later.
When you need natural solutions to sleeping troubles, click here to find out how Functional Nutrition can help you.
I suspect that pre-sleep checklist would work for anyone having trouble sleeping. Your information is always very useful.
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Kimmer, pre-bed routines are helpful but for those that have cortisol that peaks at night it is not enough. Cortisol balance can be improved with a good diet and exercise but doesn’t give quick results. I usually recommend specific herbs targeted to the imbalance – for quick results and a good rest without side effects.
My problem is falling asleep, it is waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep. I will try this exercise. Thanks!
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I have the same issue as the Mary Botham. I have no problems falling asleep, but it’s the waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep. I can see this working when I’m not stressed about something.
Waking in the middle of the night is usually an adrenal issue. Your adrenal glands are your first-responders to stress. When they get called on, and don’t get the signal that the stress is over, they keep working through the night which can cause your blood sugar to drop. Then you wake up with your mind racing. It’s like your body is ready to put out a fire, but it doesn’t see one so it just keeps you on alert. Adaptogenic herbs can help this condition greatly.