My wife is in her fifties, and is in menopause. She hates it.
Like most women in this phase of life, her sleep is affected by the unpredictable hot flashes at night. That, and all the other physiological changes going on.
Along with this torment is her belief that she’s getting absolutely no sleep at night – an attitude that tends to reinforce itself.
No matter how many times I say “you sleep more than you realize“, she wouldn’t believe me. So, to prove a point, I hooked up the Zeo Sleep Monitor to her to see what would happen.
She wore the headband all night, and the graph above is hers. When she got up in the morning she mentioned
“that was an absolutely typical night for me – and I don’t think I slept a wink”
But that’s not what the data showed…
Sleeplessness is a very typical symptom of menopause, and I’m going to assume that these results would prove to be normal for a woman going through it:
- She slept way more than she thought she did – about six hours worth!
- She got a decent amount of Deep Sleep (over an hour) which is important for the physical body repair that goes on during this phase.
- She also got a reasonable (though not average or exceptional) amount of REM sleep – important for the mental consolidation that go on at night.
- She did have several (three) awakenings that were long in length. These are the events she would remember the next day, and are the root of the “I didn’t sleep” belief.
- Although her sleep could absolutely be better, it’s nowhere near as horrible as she thought. She’s not twenty anymore…
- I’m actually envious of the big blocks of Deep Sleep she’s getting!
Paradoxically, after knowing all of this, she’s sleeping better.
Knowing that you sleep when you think that you don’t is a powerful ally in getting a restful night.
She’s asleep now….
