AAC –Health & Wellness – Sleep & Recovery – Sleep & Hormonal Changes – Q1 – Sylvie

How do hormonal changes affect sleep?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

How do hormonal changes affect sleep? There are four main hormones which affect our sleep. Number one, estrogen. This is a hormone which helps to regulate body temperature and mood. And levels of estrogen decline during menopause, so that's why women experience hot flashes and night sweats. There's a really good tip to help you to feel sleepy at night which involves body temperature, and that is to have a nice warm bath or a warm shower, and the swift change in body temperature encourages us into sleep. So again that shows that link between body temperature and sleep. Number two, progesterone. It's called the relaxation hormone and it has a sedative effect. Lower levels of progesterone can contribute to insomnia and heightened anxiety levels. Number three, cortisol is a stress hormone, and its release follows our circadian rhythm, so our sleep rhythms. Cortisol levels are naturally high in the mornings to prepare us for getting out of bed, for being awake, and at night time production is usually reduced to allow us to sleep and restore. Sometimes we can experience excessive cortisol levels in the mornings, and this is also known as the morning phenomenon, and people that have anxiety and stress can often experience an overwhelming sense of this in the morning. Sometimes hormonal shifts can knock this into reverse, so we find ourselves with racing minds just as we're settling down to sleep. A particularly stressful period in your life can also bring this reversal on. four melatonin. Our levels of melatonin naturally decrease with age? Have you ever heard the theory that older people need less sleep? Well maybe this is a factor playing out in that statement. So we can see how hormones affect our sleep. Through stages of life such as menopause, pregnancy and menstrual cycles for women, our hormone levels will fluctuate and affect our sleep patterns. I would also like to address how male hormones affect clients. Testosterone is a primary male sex hormone. Most of the production of testosterone takes place during deep sleep and peaks in the early morning hours. So disruptions to sleep patterns in men can reduce testosterone production by 10 to 15% each week according to the Better Sleep Clinic. And testosterone is important for muscle mass building, bone density, and libido. So lower levels of testosterone can contribute to fatigue, low libido, mood changes, and weight gain. If you have any concerns about the level of sleep that you're getting or the hormones that you may be affected by, it's really worth speaking to a medical professional. So do get yourself booked in with a GP if you have any concerns.