Sleep problems are most likely to be experienced by women who are middle-aged, according to a new study.
The research looks at common sleep problems among women before they hit menopause, said Dr. Paivi Polo, lead author of the study and from the University of Turku in Finland. "Typically we think that these are problems of menopause and thus menopause is the reason for everything. Then we try to treat all menopause insomnia symptoms with hormone replacement therapy but because in some women the sleep problems are already evident before the menopause, the HRT may no alleviate all sleep problems and we physicians are wondering what to do next."
Polo and her colleagues surveyed 850 mothers about their sleep when they were, on average, 42 years of age. One third of the participants suffered from chronic illnesses like diabetes or heart disease, and 28 percent were on regular medication. 16 percent of women reported having difficulty falling asleep and 20 percent said they woke up too early in the morning, weekly. 42 percent had morning sleepiness symptoms and 32 percent reported they experienced daytime sleepiness.
Researchers found that occasional alcohol drinking was tied to better sleep quality and fewer instances of falling asleep while at work. However, they stressed that women's weight and their amount of physical activity did not have anything to do with sleep problems. "There is likely a bidirectional association such that obesity may induce poor sleep, and short sleep may induce weight gain and subsequent obesity," said Dr. Helen Driver who researches sleep at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada,
