Sleep + Menopause: What Doctors Want You to Know
The American Medical Association recently explored women’s sleep health across every stage of life. For midlife women, menopause brings unique challenges—night sweats, mood changes, and even undiagnosed sleep apnea can make quality rest especially hard to come by. Here’s what the AMA highlights about sleep during the menopause transition, and how tracking your symptoms with your provider can help you get the sleep you need.
Written by Simona Byler
Key Takeaways
Sleep disturbances are common during the menopause transition. Night sweats, mood changes, and other symptoms can contribute to insomnia and even undiagnosed sleep apnea.
Poor sleep has serious health consequences. Beyond daytime fatigue, it’s linked to higher risks of cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
Tracking your sleep empowers better care. Tracking helps you and your healthcare provider identify patterns, uncover the possible causes, and develop a personalized plan to improve sleep using strategies such as sleep hygiene, CBT-I, or medication when necessary.
Is menopause messing with your sleep? For many peri- and postmenopausal people, the answer is yes. (And if your answer is no, please tell us your secret.)
Menopause makes it harder to get consistent, good-quality sleep. However, that doesn’t mean you should throw in the towel. Here’s what experts say about why bad sleep happens, and what you can do to fix it.
Surprising facts about women’s sleep health
The American Medical Association (AMA) recently published a “What Doctors Wish Patients Knew” article, packed with details about women’s sleep health. What do doctors think you should know about menopause and sleep? Here’s a quick TL;DR:
Women are more likely than men to experience insomnia and restless leg syndrome.
Common menopausal issues, such as chronic pain, mood symptoms, and night sweats, can lead to sleep disturbances and insomnia.
Sleep apnea becomes more common with age and often goes undiagnosed in women. Why? Women experience different sleep apnea symptoms than men, including fatigue, insomnia, and depression, not loud snoring.
Why this matters
Throughout life, women are more likely than men to deal with sleep problems. The impact goes far beyond feeling tired the next day; poor sleep is linked to serious health risks, including cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
With possible adverse health outcomes in mind, poor sleep isn’t something we should continue brushing under the rug. Tracking your sleep symptoms can help you and your healthcare provider spot important patterns, from recognizing sleep apnea to understanding insomnia to improving basic sleep hygiene.
Amissa’s take
What we appreciate most about this AMA piece is the reminder that women’s sleep struggles aren’t just about comfort. And because women’s symptoms don’t always look “typical,” they’re often overlooked. That’s why tracking matters.
It’s time that women’s sleep (and women’s health by and large, cough cough) gets the attention and care it deserves.
A simple step towards better rest
Wondering how you can improve your sleep? 70% of midlife women who experience sleep troubles are right there with you (Maki, 2024). Tracking your sleep can help you and your healthcare provider delve deeper into your symptoms, identify potential causes, and develop a data-driven plan to improve your sleep. Options your provider may recommend include:
Sleep hygiene improvements
Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)
Medication when necessary
Getting better sleep isn’t always easy. However, prioritizing your sleep health is worth it, and we’re here to support you along the way.
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