Sleep, Stress, and Menopause — How to Reclaim Restful Nights

You know you need sleep to function, but lately, it feels impossible. You’re tossing and turning, waking up at 3 a.m., or feeling wired right before bed. Maybe your mind is racing, your body feels hot, or you wake with your heart pounding. This isn’t “just getting older” — it’s often your hormones trying to get your attention.

During perimenopause and menopause, levels of estrogen and progesterone naturally decline. Estrogen helps regulate body temperature and serotonin, while progesterone is calming and sleep-promoting.

When these hormones drop, hot flashes, night sweats, and insomnia become more common. On top of that, stress and shifting cortisol patterns can throw your circadian rhythm into chaos — making it hard to fall asleep, stay asleep, or wake up feeling rested.

The first step is understanding exactly what’s going on in your body. A full hormone and cortisol rhythm test can reveal whether low progesterone is the reason you can’t stay asleep, or whether elevated nighttime cortisol is keeping you in that “tired but wired” state. 

Once we know the root cause, we can tailor solutions: bioidentical progesterone to restore deep, restorative sleep, evening routines to signal to your body that it’s time to wind down, blood sugar balancing to prevent middle-of-the-night crashes, and targeted supplements like magnesium glycinate or herbal blends (when appropriate).

Lifestyle plays a big role, too. Keep your bedroom cool (65–67°F), block out light with blackout curtains, avoid caffeine after midday, and turn off screens an hour before bed to help your body produce melatonin naturally.

 Managing stress during the day with gentle movement, breathwork, or meditation can also improve nighttime rest. If sleep has become one of your biggest struggles in menopause, know this: you don’t have to simply accept it. Book a consultation, and let’s design a hormone and lifestyle plan that gets you back to sleeping — and living — deeply.