Read More at Well+Good If there’s one thing to know about sleep, it’s that it loves a routine, thriving on a regular sleep-wake schedule and consistent nighttime and morning rituals. By contrast, perimenopause (aka the transition to menopause) is all about change, as hormonal fluctuations during this phase of life can throw many physiological processes for a loop, affecting things like your mental state, metabolism, libido, and—yes—your sleep. Though a lesser-discussed symptom, sleep problems affect anywhere from 39 to 47 percent of people in perimenopause, occurring both as the direct result of hormonal shifts and indirectly, due to coinciding lifestyle and aging-related changes. “Perimenopause is when the reproductive hormones progesterone and estrogen go into a slow decline, which is why you may experience so many new and different sensations and symptoms,” says holistic OB/GYN and menopause expert Kourtney Sims, MD,…
Is It a Good Idea To Take Melatonin or a Sleeping Pill on a Plane? Here’s What Sleep Doctors Have To Say
Read More at Well+Good There are two types of travelers in this world: people who can conk out on any mode of transit with ease and those who simply cannot. If you’re in the latter camp, it’s easy to envy those in the former—particularly on a lengthy flight when all you want to do is get some shut-eye to avoid feeling like a jet-lagged zombie when you land. In that scenario, it’s tempting to seek some outside support…but can you safely take melatonin or a sleeping pill on a plane? According to sleep doctors, the short answer is yes, so long as you take a few particular precautions around timing and dosage. First, it’s important to note that while they both have the potential to make you feel sleepy, sleeping pills and melatonin have entirely different mechanisms of action. Sleeping…
‘I’m a Sleep Doctor, and These Are the Most Common Questions I Get Asked About Sleep’
Read More at Well+Good The importance of sleep is hardly new, but over the past few years, we’ve been collectively waking up to it. Once dismissed as a passive phase that could be shortened or even skipped without consequence by the busiest folks among us, sleep is now considered a veritable hallmark of good health, thanks to an ever-growing body of research shedding light on its brain, heart, and other benefits. As this shift in understanding has entered the collective conscience, particularly during a time plagued by sleep issues (corona-somnia, anyone?), people have taken to the internet with their sleep questions en masse, eager to learn how to do it most effectively. And for sleep psychologist Shelby Harris, PsyD, the new wave of interest is welcome: After all, fielding common questions about sleep is a major part of her job.…
The 8 Things That Actually Helped Me Get Some Sleep With a Newborn
Read More at Well+Good I was three weeks into being a new mom when I became convinced that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) was conducting an evil experiment on sleep deprivation. Just about all the ways that my daughter naturally wanted to sleep—lying on her stomach, or in our bed, or on me—were forbidden in the AAP guidelines on how to reduce the risk of SIDS. Then the organization came out with new advice to not use weighted swaddles—one of the only things that actually got her to sleep on her back alone in the bassinet. I swear I could feel the dark circles under my eyes growing an even deeper shade of purple. I love sleeping—always have. When I got pregnant, one of my biggest fears was how I’d get by without my typical nine, sometimes 10 hours.…
It’s Totally Normal To Wake Up in the Middle of the Night—And It Doesn’t Always Tank Your Sleep Quality
Read More at Well+Good As the importance of sleep has soared in popularity in recent years, so has a common misconception—namely, that we can and should snooze in one continuous block from when we fall asleep at night to when we wake up in the morning. But, if you looked at a hypnogram of an average person’s sleep (aka a chart showing time spent in each sleep stage) from a sleep tracker, you’d realize that perception is sorely mistaken. Waking up in the middle of the night is actually totally normal, says neurologist and sleep specialist Brandon Peters, MD, sleep expert at Amazon Halo. To be clear, that doesn’t mean waking up and staying awake or struggling to fall back asleep should also be your norm. But a few middle-of-the-night awakenings occur naturally as a product of our sleep architecture,…