Sleep disturbances in women during menopausal transition and menopause

Jayalakshmi Behara,Madhuri Taranikanti,Nikhat Yasmeen,Abdul Raoof Omer Siddiqui,Ashok Kumar Dash,Sanghamitra Panda

doi:10.7439/ijbar.v5i10.903

Abstract

Background: Sleep disturbances are common in women during menopausal transition and menopause and are characterized by difficulty in falling asleep, staying asleep, problems in waking up and daytime sleepiness. Sleep disturbances occurs despite adequate opportunity for sleep. Vasomotor symptoms like hot flushes, night sweats, fatigue and mood swings also occur along with disruption of sleep architecture. Objective: To assess the sleep pattern in women in menopausal transition and menopause. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done on 270 women who were recruited for the study. They were divided into four groups. A questionnaire based assessment of sleep disturbance was done on these women. Result: Sleep problems were more severe in women in menopausal transition and menopause in comparison to premenopausal women. Conclusion: Fall in estrogen levels leading to vasomotor symptoms in these women which could be the main reason for sleep disturbances.

Highlights

Insomnia is a frequently encountered condition in women during menopausal transition through to menopause when compared to premenopausal period.[1,2] Menopause may be defined as amenorrhea for 12 consecutive months after the last menstrual period in women
Though menstrual cycles continue at this time, many women start experiencing menopausal symptoms. This may be due to gradual decline in the production of estrogen by the ovaries in early stage and this drop in estrogen accelerates in the last 1 or 2 years of perimenopause
The severity of sleep problem was more observed in Group III and Group IV women who had difficulty in falling asleep and staying asleep when compared to group I and group II

Summary

Introduction

Insomnia is a frequently encountered condition in women during menopausal transition through to menopause when compared to premenopausal period.[1,2] Menopause may be defined as amenorrhea for 12 consecutive months after the last menstrual period in women. Though menstrual cycles continue at this time, many women start experiencing menopausal symptoms This may be due to gradual decline in the production of estrogen by the ovaries in early stage and this drop in estrogen accelerates in the last 1 or 2 years of perimenopause. Sleep disturbances are common during this time characterized by difficulty in falling asleep, night time awakening, maintaining sleep, problems in waking up and daytime sleepiness.[4,5] Sleep disturbance occurs despite adequate opportunity for sleep.[6] Sleep problems are common during menopause in nearly 25% to 50% of menopausal women and they are 3-4 times more likely to have sleep problems than premenopausal women.[1,2,5,6].

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion