Is a Hormone Imbalance Affecting Your Sleep?

Hormones are an integral part of our health and well-being. They play a crucial part in many processes in the body, from sexual health to blood sugar balance and mental health. They help our bodies and muscles to grow, help regulate our appetite, and even tell our bodies the right time to sleep and wake up. If you are experiencing a hormone imbalance, you may find yourself having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, and as a result having an even more difficult time the next day.

Hormones can start jumping around at any time period in our lives, but over 35’s notice this happening more frequently. As we age our hormones drop; this is true for both men and women. 

Do You Struggle With Insomnia?

Interestingly, insomnia is much more common in women than men, according to Yale Medicine sleep specialists. This may be because of the greater natural hormone fluctuations that women experience monthly with their cycles. If you find yourself extremely tired just before your cycle starts, that could indicate that your hormones may be part of the problem. 

Lifestyle Hacks To Help You Sleep

Avoiding stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine is a good way to start calming your body down when a great night’s sleep is the goal. And try adding a little more daily exercise into your routine. Not only is it great for you to be more active anyway, it will also help to tire your muscles out before bedtime, giving you the kind of full-body tiredness that can outwit a busy mind.

A healthy bedtime routine helps your body, and its hormones, understand that sleep is imminent – try dimming the lights and reading a book instead of watching TV and/or your cell phone; the blue light that screens emit keeps our brains awake!

How Menopause Affects Sleep

For a lot of women, the onset of menopause can be very disruptive to sleep. During this time a woman’s estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone all drop. When these hormones change, it causes hot flashes, mood changes and fatigue, all of which can mean interrupted and low quality sleep. Estrogen can also alter the way your body uses magnesium, a mineral that actively helps muscles relax – read restless legs and feeling fidgety!.

Progesterone is known as a hormone that has anti-anxiety properties. It helps to metabolise allopregnanolone, a neuroactive steroid which helps you to feel calm. Low progesterone can make you feel very irritable and make it hard to relax.

The combination of proper levels of estrogen and progesterone has even been linked to preventing women from developing sleep apnea, which is a sleep disorder in which you stop breathing at random intervals. However, once menopause begins, women no longer have that benefit, making sleep apnea more prevalent as we get older.

Testosterone is essential for men’s health and good sleep

Men’s hormones are also affected by getting older, we often see a drop in testosterone that can cause similar sleep issues to those women face. 

Men’s bodies release the most testosterone at night, with levels peaking 3 hours into a good night’s sleep. When testosterone starts to drop, so do levels of neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. This leads to feelings of stress and anxiety, which of course will keep you up at night. It is a vicious cycle!

Symptoms That Your Hormones May Be Affecting Your Sleep:

• Difficulty falling asleep
• Mood changes
• Unexplained weight fluctuations
• Stubborn belly fat
• Loss of muscle mass
• Digestive issues
• Food Cravings
• Excessive sweating
• Lower libido
• Feeling frequently tired

There Is Hope To Manage Your symptoms – Come In And See Us!

Any time a patient receives help regulating their hormones, better sleep is an unexpected benefit that we love to see. A lot of the time when a patient comes in to talk about symptoms, sleep is hardly ever mentioned. However, when they come back for a follow-up after starting a hormone replacement therapy regimen they always mention how much more well-rested they feel. 

If you feel that any of the above applies to you, give us a call and book an appointment! Something as simple as a blood test can give us the answers we need to help you to live your healthiest and most productive life. We’re here to help!

Larry Siegel, NP – YM

Larry Siegel is an ARNP and certified SottoPelle practitioner who offers his services at several clinics in the greater Ocala, Daytona Beach, and Villages area of Florida. He founded YM in 2016 in order to create a clinic that offered only the highest quality of ongoing care and anti-aging therapies (including bioidentical hormone replacement, and more) outside the rigid standards of traditional medicine.