Power Surge + Hot Flash = Insomnia

Power Surge + Hot Flash = Insomnia

It happens just about every night. After reading for about a half hour, I’m finally sleepy and relaxed. I turn out the light and sink into my down pillows and high thread-count sheets. I’m just falling asleep when, wham – it happens.

It feels like my body has been plugged into an electrical socket and… who turned up the heat? I throw off the covers, grab my fan and contemplate another sleepless night ahead. I know I’m not alone. I’ve spoken with many women who often experience this combination of a “power surge” and hot flash during the night and like me, are sleep deprived as a result.

Hot flashes are one of the first symptoms to appear in pre-menopausal women and they can last for as long as five years after the last menstrual cycle, according to a study conducted by Stanford University researchers that investigated the link between hot flashes and insomnia. The results of this study was published in the June 26, 2006 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

In the Stanford study, 982 women aged 35 to 65 years were questioned about their sleep “dissatisfaction,” occurrences of hot flashes, and their menopausal status.

What I find particularly interesting is that the highest prevalence of hot flashes (79%) and chronic insomnia (56%) occurred among perimenopausal women – those who had had a period at least once in the previous 12 months.

By contrast, the occurrence of hot flashes and insomnia in post menopausal women (defined as not having had a period in the previous 12 months) was 39 percent and 51% respectively. The study concluded that “severe hot flashes are strongly associated with chronic insomnia in midlife women.”

Mental Health Overlooked in Care of Elderly Patients

Depression and other mental illnesses are common among the elderly, and when they get treatment, it usually comes from their primary care doctors. But a new study suggests that those doctors may devote too little time to talking about those ailments.

When researchers reviewed videotapes of 385 appointments with elderly patients in three separate areas, they found the median time spent discussing mental health was just two minutes. The study, which appeared in the December issue of The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, was led by Ming Tai-Seale of the School of Rural Public Health at Texas A&M.

More than half the patients whose survey responses suggested they were depressed never spoke with their doctors at all about their emotional state. The subject came up in about a fifth of the visits over all. But even when patients let their doctors know about their problems, the study found, the responses were often ineffective or worse.

Alvaro Castillo has been writing reports for 10 years on healthy sleep habits and stress with positive results. For more information check out his website at http://www.mynighttimehealth.com