How is sleep affected by age in women?
Women sleep less as they go through the stages of their life, according to Patricia Geraghty, NP. Find out how sleep changes during menstruation, pregnancy, post-pregnancy, and menopause.
Transcript
In pregnancy, we definitely arouse more easily. We have increased number of awakenings
at night, difficulty going back to sleep. [MUSIC PLAYING]
Rather than, say, age-- how is sleep affected by age in women, or sleep affected by women's life stages?
The menstrual cycle appears to change sleep a little bit. As we're approaching our menstrual cycle,
our sleep patterns change. We become aroused more easily. In pregnancy, we definitely arouse more easily.
We have increased number of awakenings at night, difficulty going back to sleep. Now it's pretty difficult to say what's going on there.
Is it hormones of pregnancy? Is it the discomfort of the body changes? Or is it, in all likelihood, a combination of the two?
Postpartum after the baby is born? Give me a break. Women don't sleep at all. And of course, we've got a baby to take care of.
But sometimes women have trouble sleeping even when given the opportunity. The other life stage that seems to affect sleep
greatly is menopause. And there's a lot of controversy about that. Women in menopause, it's an officially recognized symptom
that they don't sleep well. They report increased number of awakenings at night, difficulty getting back to sleep.
Even still here, though, we have what are called confounding variables, things that can confuse us. A woman in the perimenopause, menopausal transition
is usually in a very highly responsible time of her life. There can be a lot of stress going on. And then finally, with age or the elderly--
whatever that means-- insomnia is rampant. The inability to get to sleep, the inability to stay asleep
is probably 30% to 50% of individuals, both men and women. [AUDIO LOGO]
womens health
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