Many women have trouble sleeping during menopause. Homeopathic remedies can help to deal with Insomnia. Here I list some natural ways for you to improve your sleep during menopause.
Insomnia is a prevalent symptom of menopause but may not consistently be recognised as such. Sleep changes include difficulty sleeping or falling asleep quickly only to spring wide awake several times a night.

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What causes Insomnia during menopause?
Some of the wakings can be linked to menopausal symptoms. Anxiety and worry can prevent us from getting to sleep, and when we finally get to nod off, hot flushes can wake us again. Our sleep may also be disturbed by getting up during the night to go to the toilet. It is also common to wake in the early morning hours, particularly if we sleep in an anxious state of mind with worries and concerns.  Women often say that they can put up with night sweats, but they can’t cope with the lack of sleep. This continuous lack of sleep can lead to fatigue or depression.

Some sleep problems may be related to the fact that perimenopause, like adolescence, is a transition in sleep patterns. Typically, this changes again after menopause, when we need less sleep than during our 20s and 30s. Some women find daytime naps help during the transition.

If night sweats are the leading cause of your nighttime waking, then the first thing to do is reduce or eliminate night sweats.

Try these simple steps to improve your chances of getting a good night sleep:

  • avoid all caffeine, not just at night but during the day as well. Use calming herbal teas such as chamomile and lemon, and ginger to relax your mind.
  • You may need to improve your sleeping environment. Many people realise that their mattress has lost support and needs to be replaced. Don’t forget that you spend one-third of your life in bed! Most mattresses need to be replaced at least every ten years. Maybe indulge in some lovely new bed linen.  Make sure that your bed is a glorious haven! Go for natural fibres and avoid fire-retardant materials. Invest in blinds or curtains that are blocking the outside light completely.

 

  •  Look to make changes in diet and nutrition. Eat plenty of lean protein, green vegetables, and complex carbohydrates. Eat early in the evening and ideally don’t eat after 6 pm. If your digestion is working correctly, you will sleep better.
  • Develop good pre-sleeping habits:  a regular sleeping ritual each evening helps set the tone for good sleep. Don’t surf the web or read, watch, or listen to anything that might be disturbing or thought-provoking before bedtime.  Avoid stressful discussions or difficult phone calls in the evenings. Spend time relaxing before going to bed – this helps to stop the mind from buzzing, and we are less likely to be kept awake by stressful thought patterns and their effect on our adrenal glands.

 

  •  Use your bedroom only for sleeping and making love.
  •  Suppose you are waking during the night and feeling anxious. Try to anticipate this problem by writing down worries that are on your mind. Please make a list of things you need to do the next day before going to bed, and then try to forget them. This will help you calm down and means that you do not have everything rushing around in your mind as you try to go to sleep.
  • Consider using herbal tinctures such as Avena Sativa, best taken in warm water before bedtime. Alternatives include Valerian and Passiflora, and they all help to re-establish a good sleeping pattern.

 

  • Meditate or listen to some guided meditations.
  • Sleep on Silk or other natural materials.
  • Try to reduce the electromagnetic field and other forms of radiation caused by wireless devices and smart meters. You can switch off the wifi at night and use grounding mats or sheets on your bed. Keep your mobile phone away from your bedroom or in flight mode.

 

  • Do not practice vigorous exercising late in the evening. More gentle exercises like yoga and pilates are OK.
  •  Magnesium is essential for good sleep. Try having an Epsom salt bath or foot soak in the evening. Adding food rich in magnesium to your diet can be helpful too.

Homeopathic remedies for Insomnia

 Coffea cruda

  • This remedy is excellent when there is overactivity and overexcitability of the nervous system. Feeling as if you had too many coffees! The person needing Coffea is suffering from the effects of either good or bad news. They are worried and anxious about something.
  • Coffea helps to relax the overexcitement from good or bad events and helps us settle at night.
  • Sleepless on account of mental activity, the flow of ideas and nervous excitability.  Restless sleep and frequent sudden waking up.
  • Nervous palpitation may accompany Insomnia. Stars up easily when sleeping and consequently waking up.
  • Waking at every sound and finding it impossible to sleep if any light is on.

 

Aconite

  • This remedy is very useful for fear, fright, shock or anxiety, and fear of the future that prevents you from falling asleep.
  • Wakening up after midnight and sleep very light afterwards and in the morning, feeling as if you have not slept at all.
  • Prefer to sleep with the light on or the door slightly open.
  • Can have palpitations on waking.
  • Suffering from remote effects of fright from the past.
  • Nightmares can accompany sleeplessness about things that occurred during the day.

 

Nux vomica

  • This remedy relieves irritability, sleeplessness at 3 am, and digestive troubles associated with overindulgence in food, tobacco or alcohol.
  • Nux vomica is helpful to you if the sleeping problems are the result of too much work and a rush of ideas.
  • This is a remedy from sleeplessness from mental strain produced by either office work or overstudying for exams.
  • You may be waking up at 3–4 am, and a rush of ideas may crowd your mind preventing you from getting back to sleep.
  • Nux vomica has anxious dreams about work and things that need to be done during the day.

 

Silicea

  • Silica is a valuable remedy for nervous people with low stamina who get too tired, then have Insomnia.
  • The person often goes to sleep at first but awakens suddenly with a hot or surging feeling in the head and finds it hard to fall asleep again.
  • People who need this remedy may have anxious dreams, and some (especially children) sleepwalk frequently.

 

Sulphur

  • This remedy may be helpful if Insomnia comes from itching or an increasing feeling of heat in bed, especially in the feet.
  • The person is irritable and anxious and often feels a need to throw the covers off.
  •  Lying awake between two and five a.m. is typical. Insomnia that develops because of a lack of exercise may also be helped with Sulphur.

 

Staphysagria

  •  This remedy helps relieve physical symptoms, sleeplessness and irritability caused by grief, repressed anger or vexation.
  • Sleepy all day, awake all night.

 

Arnica montana

  • Sleeplessness from anxiety, nervous exhaustion, restlessness.
  • This remedy relieves pain and restless sleep from muscle overexertion.
  • Sleeplessness till 3.00 am.
  • Sleeps with hands overhead.
  • Must have head raised by pillows.

 

Arsenicum album

  •  People who need this remedy are often anxious and compulsive about small details and have trouble sleeping if they feel that everything is not in place. They are often deeply weary and exhausted yet feel restless physically and mentally. Sleep, when it arrives, can be anxious and disturbed, with dreams full of fear and insecurity.
  • Feeling like electric shocks can wake the person needing Arsenicum during the night.
  • Waking at 3:00 am, experiencing a hot feeling and nausea. However, waking up from midnight onwards is possible as well.
  • Worse by being alone

 

Calcarea phosphorica

  •  This remedy is often helpful to children with growing pains.
  • Adults who have aching in the joints and bones or neck and shoulder tension make it hard to fall asleep.
  • The person lies awake for many hours, feeling upset and irritable.
  • Trouble waking in the morning, feeling deeply tired and weak.

 

Cocculus

  • This remedy is often helpful to those who feel “too tired to sleep” after long-term sleep loss.
  • Sleepless from nursing others, from getting up with an infant, taking care of someone who is ill, a disruptive work schedule.
  • Travel and jet lag.
  • Sleepless from chronic worry and Insomnia.
  • The person may feel weak and dizzy, with trouble thinking, and maybe sleepy, irritable, or tearful.
  • Sleep is unrefreshing.

 

Calcaria Carbonica

  • Insomnia due to worry.
  • Night terrors/nightmares.
  • Frequent waking during the night.
  • Head sweats.
  • Cold feet.
  • Teeth grinding.
  • Wakes in a good mood and usually early.

 

Ignatia

  • Insomnia is caused by emotional upset, grief or loss, a disappointment in love, a shock, or even an argument.
  • The person is sensitive and nervous and may often sigh and yawn in the daytime but find it hard to relax at night.
  • As the person tries to fall asleep, the arms and legs may twitch or itch. If sleep arrives, it is usually light, with jerking of the legs and arms or long and troubling nightmares.

 

Kali phosphoricum

  • This remedy relieves physical and intellectual fatigue due to overexertion, with sleeplessness and headaches.
  • Insomnia from worry, overstudy business troubles.
  • Night terrors

 

Lycopodium

 

  • People who need this remedy often have no memory of dreams and often doubt that they have slept at all.
  •  Insomnia may set in primarily because of worry: lack of confidence can make them doubt their own abilities, although they are usually very capable.
  • Insomnia caused by digestive trouble, especially gas, can also indicate a need for this remedy. The person feels drowsy after meals but has trouble sleeping at night.
  •  Ravenous hunger in the night that wakes a person up is another indication for Lycopodium.

 

Zincum metallicum

  • People who need this remedy often have Insomnia from mental activity.
  • They can get Insomnia from overwork.
  • Inclined toward nervousness and can’t relax.
  • Restless legs and arms, can’t lay still. Even during the daytime, a person who needs this remedy may constantly need to move the muscles.

Homeopathic Melatonin may help balance this neurotransmitter if the problem is staying asleep.

Tissue salts 

A combination of the following tissue salts taken at bedtime may improve the quality of your sleep.

  • Kali sulph.
  • Ferrum phos.
  • Mag. phos.
  • Nat phos

 

More information about homeopathic remedies for Insomnia you can find here.

For the best results and individualised treatment of your menopausal symptoms, I recommend that you consult a qualified homeopath.

Disclaimer:
This article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your physician.