My Support Forums - View Single Post - Anyone have Menopause-related sleep issues like early waking?

sarahsweets · Aug 10, 2020 at 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TunedOut

You started out saying--I do not mean insomnia or mania and I am not saying these things are that only that it is hard to tease out how all of our conditions, genetics, hormones, etc play off of one another.

Thank goodness I am no longer menopausal and I had such a hard time with menopause including sleep issues that it may have been one of many factors contributing to my 2015 attempt. I can remember being in a full time temporary job (that ended about a week before I attempted) where I was bleeding heavily (ruining clothes at work) and sweating heavily and it seemed endless.

However, even as a child, I would get up at 1 AM Christmas morning, 3-5 AM Saturday morning (I can remember waiting for the 6 AM cartoons to come on), was almost always the first person awake at my college dorms and in some jobs, the anxiety got me up between 1 and 3 AM--I have always done a lot of lesson plans, cooking and college homework between 3 and 6 AM. It did come handy in the military. When I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, if I had to call headquarters for some advise, get permission or track the status of an application, I would have to call at around 3 AM (because Pacific Air Command Headquarters was in Hawaii so I would have to drive to the base at 2 AM to make it happen) so I was able to get these tasks done when necessary because I am an early riser.

What I am saying is maybe some of us are just programmed this way? Or is this tendency to rise early new? So sorry you are going through menopause, it is awful and watch out for anemia.

You know what @TunedOut? I agree. I had my sleep study about 10 years ago and the reason was not being able to fall asleep. They hooked me up and I did sleep enough for them to check things out. The doctor explained my results as this : when we sleep we have brainwaves specifically alpha and delta waves. Alpha waves are activity waves whether we are doing math homework or day dreaming, they are the waves that are firing. We when we enter stage 1&2 sleep we are either semiconscious or in REM which is dreaming. Despite myths when we are dreaming we have more alpha than delta waves. It isn’t until stage 4 that we really recharge. Lots of delta waves which is our brain truly going into sleep mode. It’s the most restful deep sleep. Well my results were that even when I was headed into stage 4 my alpha waves were still pretty active preventing me from fully utilizing the benefits of stage 4. I was not getting as much deep sleep and my cycles were much shorter to the point where I was waking up early. I too have always been an early riser. On a regular basis I go to bed at 10 and wake up a 4. I don’t even have to set my alarm. And I love the hours between 4-6 am. In productive too. I was told that as we age and become senior citizens we require less sleep. That’s why you will notice that older people will be out at the grocery store at 7am and wanting to get ready for bed at 9. Their bodies need less sleep. I was told that my brain was operating similar to that. It was too active meaning thinking while sleeping and the need for deep sleep became less. The sleep specialist told me that they idea of needing 8 hours of sleep is misleading. Yes generally 7/8 hours is best. BUT there is a small subset of the population that does fine on 5-6 hours. That it’s ok to wake up early. So I went through sleep training. But because I know my hormones are wacky. The 1 and 2, sometimes 1230 am waking is definitely a menopause thing. Thanks for sharing such a similar story.