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A compassionate approach to poor sleep during the perimenopause

Many women going through the perimenopause (or menopausal transition) experience disturbed sleep. It’s one, if not the, core symptom of this period. According to research, up to 60% of menopausal women suffer from poor sleep – which also has a knock-on effect on their family, work and social lives. 

Adopting a compassionate attitude, i.e. taking a moment to respectfully observe yourself struggling with the aim to support yourself, can help to alleviate poor sleep and its daytime consequences.

Your Future Self of Sleep

Sleep matters. And while we all know this on a deeper, felt level, many of us tend to ignore our need for healthy sleep. There will be different reasons for this depending on personality and circumstances. But I also wonder if this ignorance of sleep’s benefits for our health is because the harmful effects of not getting enough sleep aren’t always readily noticeable. In other words, sleep is ignored because the future self feels to abstract.


Sleep Problems in Transgender People

Whatever the colour of your skin, or age, or sexual orientation, or your sex or gender – everyone needs a healthy sleep. Sleep is essential for our physical and mental health; it affects our desire to socialise and how we show up when around others. However, sleep is a bidirectional process such that interpersonal dynamics can affect it. Minority stress, which is socially based, can have a detrimental effect on sleep of transgender people.


Does daytime napping protect the brain?

Previous studies have shown that napping helps to boost performance. According to a very recent study by Paz et al.1 regularly taking a nap during the day can help to slow down the natural decline in brain volume and maintain brain health.


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Want to make sense of sleep?

I wrote Sleep Sense to share my fascination with sleep with all of you. To help you understand why sleep is important for every single one of us. My aim is to empower you to take steps that are right for you to sleep well.

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2 weeks ago

Somnia
At #VogueWellnessRetreat last week, sleep was a big topic.As one of THE most influential elements of our wellbeing, there was so much wisdom shared from the panel and engagement from the women in attendance.  I was, as ever, eager to share my passion and insight, and one topic that comes up again and again is the difficulty of remaining asleep. My approach to waking in the night, very simply put, is to remove the pressure and struggle that is naturally attached to this, and to begin to gently allow for rest in mind and body, rather than fighting to get back to sleep.Sleep is complex, but working with it doesn’t need to be overwhelming. 💙Another thanks to @britishvogue, @funmifetto @chiomannadi, @ALO, and @SamsungUK for bringing us together for this lovely retreat.📷 credits@sofi.adams.photo@kadir_gold#Sleep #SleepWell #SleepTherapist #WomensWellbeing #WomensHealth #Vogue #SleepTherapy ... See MoreSee Less
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