The menstrual cycle influences the quality of sleep in women



[ad_1]

One study found that young women are more likely to experience sleep problems in the days before their menstruation.

"Sleep is more disrupted just days before menstruation in healthy young women," said Anne E. Kim, a medical student at Case Western Reserve University in the United States.

"An increased sleep disturbance was seen at the end of the luteal phase, which is the days just before the period," said Kim.

The menstrual phase affected sleep efficiency, the number of awakenings per night and the level of sleep fragmentation, along with increased sleep disturbances at the end of the luteal phase.

Relative to the beginning of the follicular phase, sleep efficiency decreased by 3.3%, WASO increased by 15 minutes, and the number of wakenings per night increased by three at the end of the luteal phase.

The researchers collected daily sleep data from 10 healthy women ages 18 to 28 who had regular menstrual cycles. Researchers followed women's sleep for two of their cycles.

Women wore actigraphic wrist sensors to record patterns of activity and rest during 578 episodes of sleep and they provided morning urine samples to measure luteinizing hormone (LH) concentrations , estrone-3-glucuronide (E1G) and pregnanediol-3-glucuronide (PDG).

All participants ovulated in both cycles.

The women also followed a five-day diet during the first follicular phases of each cycle. The diet during one cycle contained a neutral energy, and that of the other cycle contained 55% fewer calories.

Menstrual cycle times were normalized at 14-day follicular and luteal phases, centered on the day of ovulation.

"Short-term caloric restriction had negative effects on sleep at the end of the follicular phase, just before ovulation, and at the end of the luteal phase, just before the start of menstruation," said Kim, who led this study.

Decreased energy availability increased sleep disturbances, with lower sleep efficiency, greater WASO, and a higher index of sleep fragmentation at the end of the follicular phase, in addition to the effects mentioned above. above at the end of the luteal phase.

It is likely that these effects result from dynamic changes in ovarian hormones during the menstrual cycle.

Their study found that E1G was badociated with more arousals and that CEO was badociated with a trend toward a higher index of sleep fragmentation.

The study validates perceptions with the help of objective measures and further documents the negative impact of the diet on sleep.

"These findings suggest that women need to be especially aware of the need to practice good sleep hygiene the week before the menses and reduce their caloric intake," Kim noted.

[ad_2]
Source link