Menopause has many unwelcome surprises for women but the biggest complaint is insomnia. Falling asleep may not be particularly difficult but it is staying asleep that becomes the problem. These episodes may or may not include night sweats or extreme warmth, extremely vivid dreams, or intense anxiety that is almost in the form of panic. Often there may be no cause at all for a woman to wake in the middle of the night and just can not go back to sleep. Experts do know that hormonal imbalances can put a woman’s system right out of whack causing extreme hot flashes which could be the reason that the body can not return to a state of sleep because the body has to return to its normal temperature first.
More recent research has shown that maybe it is not night sweats and body temperature at all that contributes to menopausal insomnia. In fact, it may be that the drop of serotonin, which is the brains natural chemical, may be the culprit as this happens automatically when estrogen levels decline. There is no doubt that there is a definite relationship between menopause and insomnia and very often the insomnia can begin up to 7 years before the actual onset of menopause....