Midlife Madness Podcast

Sleepless, but not hopeless!

• Martha Savloff, Master Certified Health Coach

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Are you staring at the ceiling at 3 AM, wondering why sleep has suddenly become your nemesis? You're not alone. Sleep disruption affects nearly half of all women during perimenopause and menopause, yet too many of us are told to simply accept it as part of aging.

This candid exploration of menopause-related sleep issues goes beyond the usual "turn down your thermostat" advice to deliver transformative strategies that actually work. I share my personal journey through hormone-induced insomnia—including the frustration of being told my levels were "within normal range" while suffering through night sweats, brain fog, and mood swings. The game-changing moment came when a functional medicine approach revealed my estrogen dominance and provided solutions that conventional medicine missed.

Discover why hormone shifts disrupt sleep patterns, how to create an evening routine that supports rather than sabotages rest, and specific body-supporting tools like magnesium glycinate, valerian root, and grounding sheets. We'll also explore powerful mind hacks to quiet the mental gymnastics keeping you awake, including journaling techniques, breathing exercises, and scripture meditation that invite peaceful slumber.

Sleep isn't a luxury—it's a biological necessity and the foundation of health. Whether you're waking with night sweats, struggling to fall asleep, or experiencing poor sleep quality, these practical, science-backed strategies can help you reclaim your nights and wake feeling renewed. Because midlife might be messy, but your sleep doesn't have to be.

Try implementing just one strategy from this episode consistently for a week and share your results! What sleep hack will you commit to trying first?

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Midlife Madness podcast, where we get real about menopause, wellness and faith. Midlife can be messy. Let's make it magical. Welcome back to the Midlife Madness podcast, guys. Today we are talking about a very important topic that most women suffer with, and that is sleep. I mean, every single day in our office we see women that are my age, younger or older as well, that the one, the number one thing that they suffer through is lack of sleep, through menopause, and it's just crazy and it's so important. It's probably the most important. The most important thing that you can do for your body, for your health, is sleep, is rest, and so today we're going to talk about that. I have all kinds of information to share with you, so I hope that after this, you can sleep like a baby, and you need to let me know how you're doing Comments message, because I also dealt with this and I did a couple of things that helped me through it, and I want to share that with you because we are all in this midlife madness. So here's the good news. The good news is that you don't have to just accept poor sleep. You know us women, especially in certain cultures, we have been taught to suffer through things, you know, just put your head down and just push forward and you know, just take whatever comes your way and you don't have to do anything about it. Or, or you know, maybe you think you don't have the means to do anything about it, but you can. There are things that you can do to help you sleep, guys. This is so important, but you can. There are things that you can do to help you sleep, guys. This is so important. And so we're going to talk about that today, because you don't have to live this way. So we're going to talk about some tips.

Speaker 1:

And why does sleep get messy during menopause, like, why does this happen? And there's a couple different reasons why, Like number one. The number one always is hormone shift. Your estrogen and progesterone levels drop. You have less, less relaxation and more wakefulness. So when your hormones are out of whack and they're not balanced, one of the main things that it loves to, you know, mess us up with, is our sleep. And so that's number one is your hormones. Hormones are shifting during menopause, and so I always encourage all my clients to make sure that they go get their hormones checked. And let me talk to you about that for a second because it just frustrates the crap out of me, because so many women, like I mentioned before, suffered through this stuff and I was going through life changes.

Speaker 1:

I just turned 15 June and I started perimetopause a couple of years ago and I've been a sleeper my whole entire life. Like my whole entire life I've slept, slept, slept like I did not have a problem sleeping, but I was finding myself that I was waking up around 230 330 in the morning. I was also really edgy. I had mood swings, brain fog. I'm the kind of person that I have things to do every minute of my day and I'm pretty productive, like I stay on task, and I find myself like staring at the, at the monitor of my computer and like forgetting what the heck I was doing. And so I'm like this is not normal. And because I'm in the business, I realized like I am perimenopause and I need to check my hormones because I got all these symptoms going. So I went to my gynecologist and they ran, and I also went to my internment. They ran my numbers and they did blow work and they said everything is fine, your hormones are fine, they're within range, and I'm like I'm not fine and I'm sure you guys can relate to this. I am not fine, like I know that I am not 100% Like this. I'm not normal, I'm not the Martha normal.

Speaker 1:

And so I went to a functional medicine doctor and because you know, unfortunately I think that a lot of our clinicians are are taught to just look at blood work and make sure that you are within range. But within range doesn't mean that you're optimized right, like I want to live life optimal. I want to live life with, with energy, and I want to do a lot of things with my life still. And so I'm like, just because I'm within range doesn't mean that that's where I need to be, like I need to be optimal. So I went to a functional medicine doctor and, sure enough, he, I told them and I also was having my my breasts were super tender, like they were hurting three weeks out of four weeks a month, and also this might be a little TMI, but listen, this is midlife madness. We talked about all the things here Um, I was bleeding two or three weeks out of the month. That's not normal. Like I know that I was within range, but man, like that is definitely tangibly not normal. And so I went to the functional medicine doctor and, sure enough, he says you're estrogen dominant. You have high levels of estrogen. We need to balance your estrogen levels.

Speaker 1:

Now, this podcast is not about giving you medical advice. I am not a doctor. I'm a master certified health coach, but I'm a female that's going through menopause. That is that just likes to talk about this, because I think more people need to talk about this. But he put me on a bioidentical progesterone, very low dose, and that changed my life from one day to the other. I'm not kidding you, like all of these symptoms that I was taught I've been talking about gone, and so I encourage you that if, if you are having the life changes, don't just settle for your your doctor saying you're within range. Go to a functional medicine doctor. It's going to cost you because they don't take insurance, but you know, living life balanced and not having to live with all of these symptoms is worth every single penny, and so look for your local functional medicine doctor that focuses on hormones. If you're here locally in my area, then let me message me, because I have an incredible, incredible one.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so that's number one hormones. Number two hot flushes and night sweats can disrupt your deep sleep. So, like again, 230, 330 in the morning, I was sweating, that was waking me up. I'm like what is going on here and we put our AC at 60 at night, like it's cold, but it's like this internal heat that you cannot control, and so that disrupts your sleep and then it's hard to go back to sleep. Right, your sleep, and then it's hard to go back to sleep right, increased anxiety, mood swings and midlife to-do lists is spinning in our head. So a lot of times you have mental gymnastics. You're thinking about A, b, c, d, e, f, g, all the things that you have to do, and your brain is going and that's disrupting your sleep. So I just want to tell you, like, don't blame yourself for this kind of stuff. This is biology, like this is real deal, things that us women go through and, like I mentioned before, there's things that we can do about it.

Speaker 1:

I want to give you some statistics because I want to make sure that you know that you are not alone, like you're definitely not alone, like you're definitely not alone. So what percentage of women report sleep problems, poor sleep or insomnia? So, during perimenopause, 40 to 60% of women report that they're having one of these, and this is per the Mayo Clinic. So many women in this transitional period report new or worsening sleep disruption. And then women in postmenopause is 50 to 60% of report that they're having sleeping trouble, often persist or even increase after the first menstrual period, so or the final menstrual period. So chances are that all of us in midlife madness is experiencing some type of sleep problem, whether it's having trouble sleeping or poor sleeping or insomnia. And you know there's there's a difference. Right, you can sleep, but you can sleep poorly, or you can also have problems sleeping, like falling asleep or staying asleep, or you can also have insomnia, which you're not sleeping at all.

Speaker 1:

And so let's talk about some hacks, let's talk about some tips about how can we help ourselves with this, because, again, you don't have to live this way. So you have, like, your traditional tips that you probably have heard before, which is like keep your bedroom cool. So, like for the study, it says 65 to 75 Fahrenheit is ideal. We keep mine at 60. So keep your room cool, invest in breathable sheets and a good fan. This is something that I did that changed my sleep. I invested in grounding sheets. What are grounding sheets? So grounding sheets are lined with copper and you plug it into the ground of your outlet and what happens is we are a ball of energy, right? So when you lay on the grounding sheets, it helps you ground, it helps your energy levels come down and it helps you fall asleep and stay asleep. This was a game changer for me and it was a game changer for my husband as well. So look into grounding sheets. Okay, I know that, like my husband, for example, like I, have to keep the AC cool, and you know he doesn't have these problems, right, but it's a lot easier for him to put more blankie on top of him than for me to sweat, so it's okay.

Speaker 1:

So what's your evening routine look like? Are you drinking any caffeine after like two or three o'clock in the afternoon? Are you drinking any caffeine after like two or three o'clock in the afternoon? Are you drinking a ton of water all the way up to going to sleep, and now you are waking up to go to the bathroom multiple times a night. Are you watching TV and all this blue light is going on? Or do you have your phone on your hands and now all that blue light is going on and it's actually stimulating your brain instead of shutting it down. So get an awareness of what your evening routine is, because that makes a big difference. Also, create a wind down ritual, like dim your lights, stretch, pray. You can do some sleepy time tea to help you fall asleep.

Speaker 1:

Okay, check out your, your your evening routine, like write down what, what have you noticed that you do every single night and see which of those things are the ones that keep you up at night. Okay, you know, one thing that I noticed is that if I'm watching TV and the sofa, and I'm sitting on the sofa next to my husband and we're watching TV and I fall asleep on the sofa and then I get up to go to bed, I have a hard time going back to sleep. I noticed that I gained an awareness of that, and so now what I do is, as soon as I feel sleepy, I'm out, I go to bed and I go to sleep. That way, I don't disrupt my sleep. How about your body? Like body support hacks? So again, I'm not a doctor and this is not. I'm not giving medical advice, but I'm just sharing things that has helped us and my clients before.

Speaker 1:

Magnesium glycinate before bed is a good supplement to take. Now there's a bunch of different types of magnesiums. Magnesium glycinate is one of the ones that's good for sleep. This is like my newest favorite. My husband turned me on to it Valerian root Valerian root is amazing For me. Personally, it helped me more than the magnesium, but you can try and see what helps you. Valerian root is game changer.

Speaker 1:

Guys, go for a short evening walk. Movement helps regulate your hormones. Go for a short evening walk. Movement helps regulate your hormones. So go for a walk. Go for a walk with your husband or a friend or your kids, whatever it may be your dog, go for a walk. When you go for a walk, it actually helps regulate your hormones. So doing that before going to bed will help you go to sleep. Hydrate earlier in the day, not before bed. I've had clients that drink water all the way up to when they go to bed, and I've also had clients that they drink water during the night. That is like, unless you have a clinical reason why you should do that, that is like a big no, no, because again you're going to get up to empty your bladder and that's going to disrupt your sleep, and so we want to get the most deep sleep you can possibly get.

Speaker 1:

Okay, how about some mind hacks? This is something that we just started sharing with our clients, and a lot of times our clients are up because they have that mental gymnastics going on and they're thinking about this, what they have to do, the kids work, the project, you know all sorts of things and so, journal before bed. What you want to do is you want to do a brain dump. Bridget home, which is an amazing woman, she taught me the brain dump, life changing guys, and it's a good practice to do a brain dump at nighttime, because whatever you have going on here and all these things, you want to dump it into your journal, get it out of your system, get it out of your brain. You can also do a to-do list for the next day and doing that kind of activity actually helps you clear your brain and go to sleep. You can also do breathing exercises, like really deep breathing, hold for a couple of seconds and then release it out. Deep hold, release it out. That will help you relax, bring your cortisol levels down, bring your stress hormones down and help you go to sleep.

Speaker 1:

And then also scripture. So there's scripture meditation, like repeating a calming verse, like Psalm 4.8, which which says in peace. I will lie down and sleep for you alone, lord, make me dwell in safety. That's a great scripture, is Psalm 4, 8 is in peace. I will lie down and sleep for you alone, lord, make me dwell in safety. How about bringing God into your routine, your night routine, so then he can help you go to sleep? There's also like sleep meditation, like apps like Better Sleep is one of them. You can YouTube like guided sleep meditation that you can listen to while you're trying to fall asleep and then it'll help you go to sleep. I've tried that before. It works for me, great. There's also like lavender oils, aromatherapy, sleepy time teas.

Speaker 1:

There's so many different hacks that you can do to help you go to sleep. This is several of them, and try to do one like, try to implement when you, when you watch our podcast, grab a takeaway, one or two takeaways and say you know what this week, this is what I'm going to try to do this week and stay consistent on it. Okay, because our bodies will adjust to anything we put our minds to and we stay consistent with. So give yourself a chance, guys. Give yourself a chance to do these things, and I want to tell you that God has designed us to rest, like even the Bible says, on the seventh day he rested right. Part of our design, our body, is rest and he wants us to rest. So let's just bring these little pieces of tips into our lives. Let us run after six and a half to eight hours of sleep at night and implement, implement these things. Remember, guys, that you are your cheerleader, you are your champion, you are iconic, you are worthy to do these things, and take the time and create the boundaries to do these things so you can also live a life joyfully, with energy, healthy, with your family, running after your dreams. But you have to do the work and and so all of these different things that I talked about, implement them. Okay, I hope these things helped.

Speaker 1:

I'm Coach Martha and I'm going to do, every single week, new episode that drills down to different things that we have to walk through in our midlife madness, and I hope that our content will help you, like it helped me. And again, about the wellness If you don't sleep, you're going to gain weight, and so on. Our podcast it's about menopause, it's about wellness, it's about faith, and we're going to talk about all of these different topics and I hope it brings a little bit of sweetness into your life. So till next time. Message comment share with a friend. If you have a friend that's also suffering with lack of sleep because they're in their midlife madness, then share with them. Subscribe to our podcast or to our YouTube channel and reach out to us if you need anything.