Saturday night I went to bed way too late, got less than six hours of sleep and then felt horrible on Sunday. Sunday night, I went to bed early, set my alarm later and got EIGHT HOURS OF SLEEP! It was amazing! But wait… shouldn’t that be the norm, and not something that happens once in a blue moon?
Recently I’ve been listening to a podcast Nicole recommended, “Hit Play, Not Pause.” The host is Selene Yeager, who is the co-author of Next Level- Your Guide to Kicking Ass, Feeling Great, and Crushing Goals Through Menopause and Beyond.
One of the guests was describing how she was running less and less but constantly felt overtrained- and then she had an epiphany. it wasn’t that she was OVERTRAINED, but UNDER-RECOVERED, because she consistently did not get enough sleep.
I went back to Next Level to remind myself why sleep is so important for recovery. During deep sleep, our bodies produce human growth hormone, which stimulates tissue growth to build muscle and allow you to recover faster. Getting enough sleep also helps reduce cortisol levels, helps restock your glycogen stores, and helps your body burn fat.
Progesterone and estrogen both have important roles in helping you fall asleep and stay asleep, so when those hormones drop during menopause, sleep is affected. Sheesh… is there ANYTHING that doesn’t get messed up from menopause?
The truth is, I often stay up too late, look at my computer too close to bedtime, and drink caffeine too late in the day. My philosophy about age is to take it into consideration, but not use it as an excuse. The same goes for menopause- I’m starting to take it more seriously- but I can’t just use it as an excuse for letting my life fall apart.
If I’m going to train for a 50K, I have to get my sleep in order. I love staying up late reading and drinking an iced tea after work, but I also need to get up early to run. I guess you can’t have everything… at least, not all at the same time.
How is your sleep? Do you feel like you get enough? If you’re in your 50s or beyond, has your sleep changed?
27 Responses
We have pretty good sleep habits in our house. We’re generally in bed by 10 and lights out by 10:30. The alarm goes off at 6 or 6:30, half an hour in front of a SAD lamp, and the day starts. If we needed to get up earlier than 6, I’m not sure what we’d do, honestly. I guess we’d move bedtime up, but that would be hard with dinner/exercise/dog walk in the evening and just fitting things in!
Wow, you guys are doing pretty great. And I guess you have the pets trained to this schedule too? I’m impressed.
Man, it’s always something.
Most of the time my sleep is good but both my grandmother and mom have sleep problems so I stay alert. I only drink one cup of coffee a day (though the size of the cup may vary) and if I get into a streak of bad sleep nights I listen to meditation podcasts to try to nip it in the bud. I feel like once my sleep starts getting bad that my body “learns” how not to sleep and that the podcasts help “teach” it to sleep again.
Well, it’s good you’re proactive about this. I’m starting to realize that great sleep doesn’t just happen- you have to work to make it happen.
Your post made me think I need to get my sleep in order. I don’t sleep enough during the week (6 hours if not less). I am a night owl and having to get up early during the week is not fun. Weekends are much better. I always have the feeling there are not enough hours in the day and part of me does not want to give up those last two hours before bed that I have to myself. That being said I should take better care of myself. I started menopause in my early 40s and now with 48 it has not affected my sleep yet. Fingers crossed it stays that way.
Meike,I feel the exact same way- I just want a couple hours to myself after a long day. It’s definitely a tough thing to give up.
You’ve followed along with some of my sleep challenges.
My mother has had insomnia…forever?! I typically sleep fairly well, but caffeine is definitely something I have to be extremely careful with; I now aim to finish my tea by 10:00 am and only drink decaf if I have anything after that. If I have anything after noon, it definitely impacts my sleep.
Things that have helped lately:
1) Setting a specific bedtime. I sometimes blow past it, but doing the math of when I need to be in bed to get ~8 hours of sleep really helps. For me, this is 10:30 pm. Some nights the light is out at 10:00, sometimes at 11:00, but I know where I’m falling in the sleep spectrum if I deviate from 10:30 pm
2) CBD oil? I don’t know if this helps, but I have started using some oils 3-4 times a week for general health (and for mental health; I don’t respond well to pharmacuticals of any kind, and know the CBD oil is purported to help with mental health, and it’s inexpensive. I think it does help, but it could be a placebo effect…?
3) A hot shower before bed.
4) Reading, not looking at screens right before bed. It really helps if the book is non-fiction because they are SO much easier to put down than fiction.
5) Getting ready for bed as early as possible. I try to wash my face, brush my teeth, get in PJs etc when the kids are getting ready for bed. It’s very nice when it’s bedtime to only have to crawl under the covers and sleep. I HATE washing my face and have definitely put off going to bed simply because I know I need to get up and do all the evening maintenance tasks before I go to bed.
I’m so glad you got one long stint, here’s to many more in your future. I’d definitely recommend doing some basic math of what time you need to/tend to wake up; work backward 7, 8 (or however long you WANT to sleep) to a number. And that’s your bedtime. Try setting an alarm for 30 minutes before that bedtime so you have a warning?
THANK YOU ELIZABETH! These are some great, concrete, suggestions. I definitely have to be more regimented with my schedule, and you gave me a great idea- get some decaf tea to make my afternoon iced tea. I think I would just be happy having the taste of tea- I definitely don’t need the caffeine at 5 pm. I’ve thought about trying CBD- I’m going to get some and see if it will help. It definitely won’t hurt.
I always feel tired, but can’t quite figure out if it’s RA or having young kids. Someone asked me if I thought I had long covid and I said – how would I be able to isolate that from the general level of exhaustion I feel. 🙂 I do feel like I’m always tired so plan to have my rheumatologist check my iron levels when I see her next month just to be sure it’s not anemia which I’m prone to.
But I definitely prioritize sleep. I go up to bed at 8:30 most nights and read until 9:30. My alarm goes off at 5:45 or 6 depending on whether I need to blow dry my hair. But I can’t count on not being woken overnight. Paul will sometimes come into our room, or the toddler will cry and wake up. Last night he was carrying on so much that I had to go in there to see if he had pooped or was sick or something. But nothing obvious was the matter, so I sang him a few songs in the rocking chair and put him back down. And then he was carrying on again about 5 minutes later but eventually he gave up and went back to sleep. So anyways, since my middle of the night wakings are often out of my control, I am very strict about my bedtime!
Well, it sounds like you’re doing the best you can under the circumstances. I don’t think anyone sleeps great when they have small kids. It’s also worth it to get some blood work done- sometimes my thyroid gets low, which makes me extra tired.
Oh, sleep. It’s so difficult! I’ve had a complicated relationship with it since I worked as a nurse, with shift work and lots of night work. I’m messed up since then and it doesn’t help that I’ve been busy with studies and whatnot lately!
I submitted my final assignments last week and I’m still recovering after the stress load. Now I’m beginning to create some kind of routine again and I hope I’ll be able to get some good sleeping patterns too. Time will tell.
I hope you’ll find a way to change your routine somehow, maybe there’s some middle way if you like to read etc in the evening? Without the tea!
However, I’m very impressed with your decision about the 50k race.
Thanks Suzanne! Yes… sleep can be really complicated. So many things get in the way of a perfect sleep routine. I definitely don’t want to give up reading- I just have to rearrange things somehow.
I sleep pretty well. I don’t get the recommended 8 hours (I average about 7 and would like to work on that), but at least, I don’t have insomnia very often. With so many people mentioning (pre-)menopause, I am trying to pay really hard attention to any changes that I might notice (so far, I don’t really notice any, but it could start any day…).
You’re so right though: sleep is – in all stages of life – such an important recovery tool.
Well, if you’re consistently getting 7 that’s pretty good. Maybe that’s the perfect amount for you.
I’ll be 57 in December. My sleep has changed, and NOT for the best. Sometimes I sleep really well, but more often I wake in the middle of the night and have trouble going back to sleep. Frustrating, I used to be an amazing sleeper. I do notice a huge difference on days when I sleep well vs. days when I do not. I think that the fact that you exercise regularly has to help with the sleep. I am not and athlete, so not clear on the rest thing, but I sometimes hear that on a ‘rest’ day from a runner, maybe do yoga or strength. Maybe that would help you sleep? I sometimes take melatonin, which can help.
I used to be SO GOOD about adhering to a bedtime, but it’s gotten so bad now that I work from home. There are weeknights when I don’t even go to bed until midnight! And I’m usually only getting around 6 hours of sleep a night and that is not enough for me. I really need to be better about starting my nighttime routine early in the evening and getting through it much faster than I do right now.
I thought you were pretty disciplined about your bedtime, but of course I don’t see what goes on every night. Yes… it’s hard for me to get myself in bed early enough. That’s really my main problem right now.
I have sleep issues. I like to have a window open, or I overheat and in our rental for the last year, we couldn’t open the window because there were no flyscreens and there was too much road noise. My sleep got very bad over this year. If I get into our apartment, which will be quieter and have better ventilation and my sleep doesn’t settle down I’ll be going to the doctor I think. I’ve never been the best sleeper but I always spend about 8 hours in bed, although sometimes if I’m awake in the night I’ll read for a bit to try to get back to sleep.
Being too hot is a major problem for me. They say the ideal temperature is 60-65, but most of the time there’s no way we can get our house that cool. I think if it were colder here I would be able to sleep so much better.
That was SUCH a good episode! Sleep and rest are so important for our overall health!
Yes, it was great. There are a bunch more that have really helped me as well. I’m still going back to listen to earlier ones.
I am still a good sleeper (except for the occasional hormone-related insomnia) but my baby! Is a TERRIBLE SLEEPER. I don’t feel responsible for this because the other 4 were good ones, but eight hours of sleep? SOUNDS LIKE A DREAM.
Oh I know… it’s pretty hopeless when you have small kids!
I’ve always been a rotten sleeper… but yes as I’ve aged it has gotten worse but I think eventually it gets better as you get way past menopause.
The weird thing is that sometimes I don’t sleep well for no apparent reason.
I don’t think I ever get enough sleep.
Yes- usually when I don’t sleep well there’s no apparent reason. So frustrating!
Ah well you know about my sleep troubles so no tipps for from my side.
But I agree you can’t takle everything with the same priority. Somethings gotta give.
Hope you figure out what needs to go to accomplish your goal of the 50K. All the best.
Thank you Tobia! Yes, I have to make sleep a priority- I’m working on it.