For many of us, our first indicator that we are experiencing hormonal change is a loss of sleep and a rise in our anxiety levels. We lie awake at 4am every night running over our to-do list and putting the world to right.
Peri-menopause is the mother of all wake up calls for women and symptoms are the language our bodies use to tell us to listen in and take action to meet our own needs…perhaps for the first time in our lives.
Loss of sleep and heightened anxiety are telling us that our stress hormone cortisol has become dominant in the body as estrogen our juicy hormone depletes.
Lack of sleep speeds the aging process, puts at risk of dementia 10 to 20 years down the line and effects our mood on a daily basis. Sleeping too few hours at night is linked to weight gain and sugar cravings.
It is time to take responsibility for your sleep at night and establish healthy sleep hygiene.
Sleep hygiene begins first thing in the morning when it is helpful to get exposure to daylight on rising to ‘prime’ the sleep hormone melatonin released in the brain in the evening.
A good nights sleep can also be destroyed by your morning coffee, so switch to a Matcha Latte or herbal tea to avoid spiking the natural cortisol morning spike that is a part of your circadian rhythm. Shift your caffeine intake to the middle of the day between 11am and 1pm.
Move your body during the day and sweat.
Set a reminder on your phone to turn off all electronics by 7pm so that you can avoid the blue spectrum light that prevents melatonin your sleep hormone from being secreted.
Form a night time routine that helps you to relax in the evening. Go analogue and read a book or soak in an Epsom salts bath with lavender oil, knowing that your skin is absorbing the relaxation mineral magnesium into the body.
Keep your bedroom cool. The best room temperature for sleep has been found to be 60 - 67C.
You can add this adrenal gland supporting smoothie to your evening routine to promote sleep.
Vitamin C rich cherries are a rich source of naturally occurring melatonin (our sleep hormone) and the B group of vitamins. With the addition of the healthy fat, coconut oil, this smoothie supports the health of tired adrenal glands. When our adrenal glands are exhausted it indicates that cortisol our stress hormone is running high in the body, we find it hard to drag ourselves out of bed in the morning but can get a second wind and feel frazzled and wired in the evening unable to sleep.
This smoothie contains protein and raw cacao which actively boosts our happy neurotransmitter serotonin. This is important as serotonin and melatonin share the same building blocks in the body and serotonin is the pre-cursor to our body producing melatonin to help us to sleep at night. You do not need a clinical trial to tell you that your happiness and sleep are related!!!
The addition of valerian root serves to relax you and promote restful sleep. A randomized placebo controlled (This is the gold standard ladies) study of post menopausal women with insomnia found a statistical significant number of women registered better sleep outcomes when taking valerian.
Taavoni S, Ekbatani N, Kashaniyan M, Haghani H. Effect of valerian on sleep quality in postmenopausal women: a randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial. Menopause. 2011 Sep;18(9):951-5. doi: 10.1097/gme.0b013e31820e9acf. PMID: 21775910.
As the evening draws in and the body registers the natural darkness, without disruption from electronics and screens, melatonin is released to start the natural sleep cycle.
Midlife is the perfect time to get empowered around your sleep hygiene to turn off your electronic devices at 7pm, make yourself this smoothie, release the stress of the day and allow yourself to relax.
Ingredients
½ cup hot water
2 tbsp raw cacao powder
2 tbsp hemp hearts
1 tbsp organic virgin coconut oil
1 cup cherries, thawed if frozen
10 drops valerian extract
1 pinch sea salt
Instructions
Put all ingredients into the blender and liquefy until smooth.