During this month of Menopause Awareness Month, a new study found that 80% of those going through menopause experience sleep disturbances. It also found that 90% of women experience anxiety and 71% experience night sweats during this time, and that these two symptoms affect sleep.

Ironically, the researchers behind this study also found a positive relationship between sleep duration and menopausal symptoms, with a recent study finding that menopausal symptoms caused by low estrogen levels are reduced by more sleep.

So if one of the main symptoms of menopause is difficulty sleeping, how can we get more sleep to improve menopausal symptoms? We spoke with Ova founder Dr. Amy DiBaranilla, an expert in this research. From bedtime routines to choosing the best mattress for your body, here are Dr. Divaraniya's top three recommendations for sleeping better tonight.

Menopause, Dr. Divaraniya explains, is the period of transition from reproductive years to menopause (the permanent loss of menstruation), which can bring physical and emotional symptoms.

“Women have a menstrual cycle that increases the likelihood of pregnancy. Hormones synergistically determine the menstrual cycle.” Now we can't get pregnant at age 70, because it's not healthy and it's not evolutionary. [It's not good for our health and it's not good for our evolutionary needs. So at some point our body starts telling us that we are not going to get pregnant anymore. But what happens at menopause is a hormonal imbalance because the body is not trying to move from a state of wanting or being able to conceive.”

Dr. Divaraniya says the first step to getting more sleep is to make lifestyle changes, including establishing consistent sleep habits to improve sleep hygiene.

Good sleep habits can also help reduce anxiety, another symptom of menopause that affects sleep. Reduce screen time before bed and practice meditation, bedtime yoga, and breathing exercises. Doing so will reduce mental stress before bed and help you get a good night's sleep.

Along with anxiety, studies have shown that 71% of menopausal women experience night sweats.

“If you're sweating a lot during the night or notice that it's affecting your normal sleep, there are solutions you should embrace,” she says.

“The best cooling mattresses are the best because they literally help you sleep better. There are also simple lifestyle changes you can make to address the discomfort you are experiencing, such as keeping your room cooler at night or sleeping with a fan on.” [If investing in a new cooling mattress is out of your budget, you can purchase a cooling mattress topper or cooling mattress protector. Our best mattress topper guide is full of bed toppers with cooling features.

“All of these symptoms are driven by your estrogen imbalance, so whatever is going to help you get your estrogen progesterone in balance will help induce better sleep at night,” the doctor tells us.

“Look at your estrogen levels on a daily basis to check if your estrogen is really low. If they are, you will want them higher. But if estrogen is still circulating without problems, then there may be other causes that are causing your sleep problems.

If estrogen levels are low and menopause is clearly the cause of sleep disturbances, Dr. Divaraniya recommends considering hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

“You need to consult with your doctor, but it is definitely an option, and our results show that if you can get your estrogen in a good position before bedtime, you can expect better sleep.”

Dr. Divaraniya's research shows that this hormonal imbalance brought on by menopause manifests itself through outwardly experienced side effects, such as sleep problems.

“That's because the hormones that your body is used to working in a certain way no longer work that way,” menopause specialists explain.

“When the hormones react and things happen,” explains the menopause specialist, “it makes it hard to sleep.

“It also manifests itself in other symptoms such as night sweats and anxiety, and these outward symptoms are really very much dependent on hormonal imbalance.”

According to DiBaranilla's research, there is a positive relationship between sleep duration and estrogen levels in perimenopausal women. Increased sleep duration leads to increased estrogen levels, which in turn improves menopausal symptoms.

Study participants who slept 6 to 9 hours had increased estrogen levels, in contrast to study participants who slept 3 to 6 hours, suggesting that menopausal symptoms caused by low estrogen levels may be reduced by increasing sleep duration.

“What we are seeing is that estrogen levels drop quite substantially when sleep is short and rise slightly when sleep is adequate,” explains the founder of Ova. [So 6 to 9 hours, or 9 hours plus, is kind of the sweet spot. When you get more than six hours of sleep, that's the point where your estrogen levels are at the point where they're keeping a lot of the symptoms that would cause you to wake up at bay.”

.