I’m getting a lot of sleep lately. Sometimes I’ll go years with insomnia. Search the words sleep or insomnia at my blog and you’ll find my many posts about it, my thoughts, my perceptions and also the natural remedies I’ve found to work for me. I’m self employed from home the past 23 years, so I make my own schedule. That’s allowed me to fall into a natural sleep pattern of twice a day, usually between 4:00 — 9:00, both am and pm. When a cycle of insomnia ends, I go through a delightful time of being able to fall asleep anywhere, anytime and often do. It’s happened for enough years that I can tell where I am in the cycle. I know I’m good for the first 3-4 hours after I wake up, so that’s when I do all my running around, my errands and appointments. Any longer than that, I’m likely to snooze in your chair. It might just be 10 minutes, it might be an hour; we never know. Like the nuns used to say, “it’s a mystery.” I’ve learned to just be in a safe place and let it happen. I’ve been reading about the adrenal glands lately and sleep is very recuperative for the adrenal glands. Adrenal function affects sleep and energy. That means eat nutrient dense foods, avoid toxic foods and get plenty of sleep. Take vitamin D and cod liver oil, exercise and get real sunlight. Spending time outside at dawn and late afternoon helps regulate the pineal gland, which also affects sleep. That is why I take my walk as dawn is breaking, and at sunset I go outside to water the back property, where the light lingers longest. 

The weather has been really beautiful; hot, yes, but afternoon rains cooling it off to balmy 72 degree nights. I’m glad I can work in the yard without getting overheated, as the yard is for the most part under high shade. I’m stoked to notice that my hot flashes have dramatically dropped lately, maybe one a week. Yay!!! When I weighed more, the heat and the flashes bothered me more. Now I just let it come over me, and take it as a signal from my soul to take a break.  I stopped dreading the hot flashes and thinking of them as nuisances interrupting my time. I began seeing them as a signal from the Universe that it was time for a mini-sweat lodge, a ceremonial sauna to offer up anything I was ready to release in the fire.  If nothing else, it helped me connect a few times a day – during each hot flash – with a deeper part of myself and symbolically purge, both emotionally and psychologically.  Menopause continues to be a very sacred and healing process for me, especially in the area of sleep and energy management.

Speaking of sweating, for the first time in years I woke up about 3:00am this morning, freezing with a damp sheet over me. And under me. The pillow under my head was damp, too. My hair was damp, so the nights sweat must have lasted for a few moments before I woke up. I stripped the bed and put the sheets in the wash, then took a shower and washed my hair.

I used to get night sweats many times a week, sometimes several a night, from age 42. My eating habits were different then, I ate a lot of fatty foods, meats and breads, drank coffee and black tea. Now, for the most part I eat a healthy diet, caffeine only rarely, no alcohol, no medications, very little sugar. I exercise in some form every day. I’m sure all these things – besides being 63 years old – contribute to my lessening hot flashes and night sweats. I’m glad for whatever stage my body is in. I have no other adverse side affects of menopause, no dryness, no moodiness. And if I can have no hot flashes, whoo hoo!!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get in yet another extra segment of sleep just because I can. And I’ll relish the comfy feeling of the fresh sheets and I’ll delight in the soft cushyness of the comforter and I’ll smile at the fan blowing cool air on my face. And the next time I can’t get to sleep? I’ll bring all these thoughts and feelings to mind and remember how it felt and I’ll bask in that place of appreciation for as long as I can and before I know it, I’ll be off to dreamland. And if not? Two valerian root capsules and two Hyland’s Calm’s Forte will get me on my way.

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