Abstract
Across the life cycle of women, the quality and quantity of sleep can be markedly affected by both internal (e.g., hormonal changes and vasomotor symptoms) and external (e.g., financial, marital, and child-care responsibilities) factors. This chapter outlines some of the major phases of the life cycle that have been associated with sleep problems in women. Very little systematic, large-scale research has been performed in any of the areas reviewed here, and, once identified, sleep problems are generally best addressed using standard therapeutic approaches. However, in the case of pregnant and lactating women, the welfare of the fetus or child must be considered in the treatment decision. This chapter is organized into sections that address sleep problems associated with the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Williams, R.L., H.W. Agnew, and W.B. Webb, Sleep patterns in the young adult female: an EEG study. Electroenceph Clin Neurophysiol, 1966;20:264–266.
Lee K. and J. Shaver Wo en as subjects in sleep studies methodological issues. Sleep Res 1985;14271
Leibenluft, E., P.L. Fiero, and D.R. Rubinow, Effects of the menstrual cycle on dependent variables in mood disorder research. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 1994;51:761–781.
Manber, R., and R. Armitage, Sex, steroids and sleep: a review. Sleep, 1999;22:540–545.
Schenck, C.H. and M.W. Mahowald, Two cases of premenstrual sleep terrors and injurious sleepwalking. J Psychosom Obstet Gynecol, 1995;16:79–84.
Manber, R., R. Bootzin, and K. Bradley, Menstrual cycle effects on sleep of female insomniacs. Sleep Res, 1997;26:248.
Suzuki, H., M. Uchiyama, K. Shibui, et al., Long-term rectal temperature measurements in a patient with menstrual-associated sleep disorder. Psychiatr Clin Neurosci, 2002,56:475–478.
Miller, E.H., Sleep disorders and women. Women and Insomnia. Clin Cornerstone, 2004;6(S1B):1–17.
Baker, F.C. and H.S. Driver, Self-reported sleep across the menstrual cycle in young, healthy women. J Psychosom Res, 2004;56:239–243.
Mauri, M., Sleep and the reproductive cycle: a review. Health Care Women Int, 1990;11:409–421.
Severino, S.K., D.R. Wagner, M.L. Moline, S.W. Hurt, C.P. Pollak, and S. Zendell, High nocturnal temperature in premenstrual syndrome and late luteal phase dysphoric disorder. Am J Psychiatry, 1991;148:1329–1335.
Parry, B.L., B. LeVeau, N. Mostofi, et al., Temperature circadian rhythms during the menstrual cycle and sleep deprivation in premenstrual dysphoric disorder and normal comparison subjects. J Biol Rhythms, 1997;12:34–46.
Parry, B.L., S.L. Berga, D.F. Kripke, et al., Altered waveform of plasma nocturnal melatonin secretion in premenstrual depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 1990;47:1139–1146.
Parry, B.L, S.L. Berga, N. Mostofi, M.R. Klauber, and A. Resnick, Plasma melatonin circadian rhythms during the menstrual cycle and after light therapy in premenstrual dysphoric disorder and normal control subjects. J Biol Rhythms, 1997;12:47–64.
Shinohara, K., M. Uchiyama, M. Okawa,et al., Menstrual changes in sleep, rectal temperature and melatonin rhythms in a subject with premenstrual syndrome. Neurosci Lett, 2000;281:159–162.
Sheldrake, P. and M. Cormack, Variations in menstrual cycle symptom reporting. J Psychosom Res, 1976;20:169–177.
Mauri, M., R.L. Reid, and A.W. MacLean, Sleep in the premenstrual phase: a self-report study of PMS patients and normal controls. Acta Psychiatr Scand, 1988;78:82–86.
Driver H.S., D. Dijk, E. Werth, K. Biedermann, and A. A. Borbely, Sleep and the sleep electroencephalogram across the menstrual cycle in young healthy women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 1996,81:728–735.
Hartmann, E. Dreaming sleep (the D-state) and the menstrual cycle. J Nerv Ment Dis, 1966;143:406–416.
Chuong, C.J., S.R. Kim, O. Taskin, and I. Karacan, Sleep pattern changes in menstrual cycles of women with premenstrual syndrome: a preliminary study. Am J Obstet Gynecol Online, 1997;177.
Lee, K.A., J.F. Shaver, E.C. Giblin, and N.F. Woods, Sleep patterns related to menstrual cycle phase and premenstrual affective symptoms. Sleep, 1990;13:403–409.
Parry, B.L. W.B. Mendelson, W.C. Duncan, D.A. Sack, and T.A. Wehr, Longitudinal sleep EEG, temperature and activity measurements across the menstrual cycle in patients with premenstrual depression and age-matched controls. Psych Res, 1989;30:285–303.
Dzaja A. S. Arber, J. Hislop, et al., Women’s sleep in health and disease. J Psychiatr Res, 2005;39:55–76
Krystal A.D. Insomnia in women. Clin Cornerstone 2004;541–50
Moline M.L. and S.M. Zendell Evaluating and managing PMS. MedScape Women’s Health 2000;5 http://www.medscape.com/Medscape/WomensHealth/journal/2000/v05.n02/wh3025.moli/wh3025.moli-01.html
Lee-Chiong, T.L., Manifestations and classification of sleep disorders. In: Sleep Medicine (edT.L. Lee-Chiong,_ M.J. Sateia, and M.A. Carskadon, eds.), Philadelphia: Hanely & Belfus, 2002:131.
Baker F.C. H.A. Driver G.G. Rogers J. Paiker and D. Mitchell High cturnal body temperatures and disturbed sleep in women with primary dysmerrhea. Am J Physiol 1999;40E1013–E1021
Sateia, M.J., Epidemiology, consequences and evaluation of insomnia. In: [eiLee-Chiong T.L., Sateia M.J., Carskadon MA. Sleep Medicine. Philadephephia: Hanely & Belfus, 2002:131.
Billiard M. C. Guilleminault and W. Dement A menstruation-linked periodic hypersomnia. Neurology 1975;25436–443
Sachs C. H.E. Persson and K. Hagenfeldt Menstruation-related periodic hypersomnia a case study with successful treatment. Neurology 1982;32376–1379
Bamford C.R. Menstrual-associated sleep disorder an unusual hypersomniac variant associated with both menstruation and amerrhea with a possible link to prolactin and metoclopramide. Sleep 1993;16484–486
Schweiger M.S. Sleep disturbances in pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1972;114879–882
Mindell J.A. and B.J. Jacobson Sleep disturbances during pregnancy. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs 2000;29590–597
Santiago J.R. M.S. lledo W. Kinzler and T.V. Santiago Sleep and sleep disorders in pregnancy. Ann Intern Med 2001;134396–408
Lee K. A. Alterations in sleep during pregnancy and postpartum a review of 30 years of research. Sleep Med Rev 1998;2231–242
Karacan I. W. Heine H.W. Agnew et al. Characteristics of sleep patterns during late preganancy and the postpartum periods. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1968;101579–586
Iqbal, M.M., T. Sobhan, and T. Ryals, Effects of commonly used benzodiazepines on the fetus, the neonate, and the nursing infant. Psych Services, 2002;53(1):39–49.
Birnbaum, C.S., L.S. Cohen, and J.W. Bailey, Serum concentrations of antidepressants and benzodiazepines in nursing infants: a case series. Pediatrics, 1999;104(1):e11.
Della-Giustina, K. and G. Chow, Medications in pregnancy and lactation. Emerg Med Clin North Am, 2003;21(3):585–613.
Loube D.I. J.S. Poceta M.C. Morales M.D. Peacock and M.M. Mitler Self-reported sring in pregnancy and association with fetal outcome. Chest 1996;109885–889
Franklin K.A. P.A. Homgren F. Jonsson N. Poromaa H. Stenlund and E. Svanborg Sring pregnancy-inducted hypertension and growth retardation of the fetus. Chest 2000;117137–141
Izci S.E. Martin K.C. Dundas W.A. Liston A.A. Calder and N.J. Douglas Sleep complaints sring and daytime sleepiness in pregnant and pre-eclamptic women. Sleep Med 2005;6163–169
Rousch, S.F. and L. Bell, Obstructive sleep apnea in pregnancy. J Am Board Fam Pract, 2004;17(4):292–294.
Edwards N. P.G. Middleton D.M. Blyton and C.E. Sullivan Sleep disordered breathing and pregnancy. Thorax 2002;57555–558
Shepertycky, M.R., K. Banno, and M.H. Kryger, Differences between men and women in the clinical presentation of patients diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Sleep, 2005;28(3):309–314.
Guilleminault C. M. Kreutzer and J.L. Chang Pregnancy sleep disordered breathing and treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure. Sleep Med 2004;543–51
Lee, K.A., M.E. Zaffke, and K. Barette-Beebe, Restless legs syndrome and sleep disturbance during pregnancy: the role of folate and iron. J Women’s Health Gender-Based Med, 2001;10(4):335–341.
Botez M.I. and B. Labert Folate deficiency and restless legs syndrome in pregnancy letter. NEJM 1977;297670
Happe, S. and C. Trenkwalder, Role of dopamine receptor agonists in the treatment of restless legs syndrome. CNS Drugs, 2004;18(1):27–36.
Coble P.A. C.F. Reylds D.J. Kupfer et al. Childbearing in women with and without a history of affective disorder. 1. Psychiatric symptomatology. Compr Psychiatr 1994;35205–214
Lee K.A. and C.L. Gay Sleep in late pregnancy predicts length of labor and type of delivery. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2004;1912041–2046
Wolfson A.R. S.J. Crowley U. Anwer and J.L. Bassett Changes in sleep patterns and depressive symptoms in first-time mothers last trimester to 1-year postpartum. Behav Sleep Med 2003;154–67
Campbell I. Postpartum sleep patterns of mother-baby pairs. Midwifery 1986;2193–201
Shinkoda H. K. Matsumoto and Y.M. Park Changes in sleep-wake cycle during the period from late pregnancy to puerperium identified through the wrist actigraph and sleep logs. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 1999;53133–135
Zaffke M.E. and K.A. Lee Sleep architecture in a postpartu sample a comparative analysis. Sleep Res 1992;21327
Lee, K.A., G. McEnany, and M.E. Zaffke, REM sleep and mood state in childbearing women:sleepy or weepy? Sleep, 2000;23(7):877–885.
Bassett, J.L., J.M. Giovanni, K.L. Peterson, et al., Sleep and mood from the last trimester of pregnancy through four months postpartum. Sleep Res, 1999;22(Suppl):S245–S246.
Gay, C.L., A. Lee, and S.Y. Lee, Sleep patterns and fatigue in new mothers and fathers. Bio Res Nurs, 2004;5(4):311–318.
Waters M.A. and K.A. Lee Differences between primigravidae and multigravidae mothers in sleep disturbances fatigue and functional status. J Nurse Midwifery 1996;41364–367
Quillin S.I.M. Infant and mother sleep patterns during 4th postpartum week. Issues ComprPed Nurs 1997;20115–123
Blyton D.M. C.E. Sullivan and N. Edwards Lactation is associated with an increase in slow-wave sleep in women. J Sleep Res 2002;11297–303
Mosko S. C. Richard and J. McKenna Maternal sleep and arousals during bedsharing with infants. Sleep 1997;20142–150
Adams S.M. D.R. Jones A. Esmail and E.A. Mitchell What affects the age of first sleeping through the night-J Paediatr Child Health 2004;4096–101
Ferber, R., Sleeplessness in children. In: Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine in the Child (R. Ferber and M. Kryger, eds.). Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1995:79–89.
Leeson R. J. Barbour D. Romaniuk and R. Warr Management of infant sleep problems in a residential unit. Child Care Health Dev 1994;2089–100
Hiscock H. and M. Wake Randomised controlled trial of behavioural infant sleep intervention to improve infant sleep and maternal mood. Br Med J 2002;3241–6
Brugge K.L. D.F. Kripke S. Ancoli Israel and L. Garfinkel The association of mepausal status and age with sleep disorders. Sleep Res 1989;18208
Kripke, D.F., R. Brunner, R. Freeman, et al. Sleep complaints of postmenopausal women. Sleep (submitted).
Writing Group for the Women’s Health Initiative Investigators. Risks and benefits of estrogen plus progestin in healthy postmenopausal women. JAMA, 2002;288(3):321–333.
Erlik Y. I.V. Tataryn D.R. Meldrum P. Lomax J.G. Bajorek and H.L. Judd Association of waking episodes with mepausal hot flushes. JAMA 1981;2451741–1744
Woodward S. and R. Freedman The thermoregulatory effects of mepausal hot flashes on sleep. Sleep 1994;17497–501
Shaver J. E. Giblin M. Lentz et al. Sleep patterns and stability in perimepausal women. Sleep 1988;11556–561
Polo-Kantola P. R. Erkkola K. Irjala et al. Climacteric symptoms and sleep quality. Obstet Gynecol 1999;94219–224
Freedman R.R. and T.A. Roehrs Lack of sleep disturbances from mepausal hot flashes. Fertil Steril 2004;82138–144
Montplaisir J. J. Lorrain D. Petit and R. Denesle Differential effects of two regi ens of hormone replacement therapy on sleep in postmepausal women. Sleep Res 1997;26119
Scharf M.B. M.D. McDanld R. Stover N. Zaretsky and D.V. Berkowitz Effects of estrogen replacement therapy on rates of cyclic alternating patterns and hot-flush events during sleep in postmepausal women a pilot study. Clin Ther 1997;19304–311
Purdie D.W. J.A.C. Empson C. Crichton and L. MacDonald Hormone replacement therapy sleep quality and psychological well-being. Br J Obstet Gynecol 1995;102735–739
Polo-Kantola P. R. Erkkola K. Irjala et al. Effect of short-term transdermal estrogen replacement therapy on sleep a randomized double-blind crossover trial in postmepausal women. Fertil Steril 1999;71873–880
Schiff I. Q. Regestein D. Tulchinsky and K.J. Ryan Effects of estrogens on sleep and psychological state of hypogonadal women. JAMA 1979;2422405–247
Woodward S. C.L. Arfken D.W. Ditri et al. Ambient temperature effects on sleep and mood in mepausal women. Sleep 1999;22S224–S225
Kronenberg F. Mepausal hot flashes randomness or rhythmicity. Chaos 1991;1271–278
Young T. L. Finn D. Austin and A. Peterson Mepausal status and sleep-disordered breathing in the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2003;1671181–1185
Young T. Analytic epidemiology studies of sleep disordered breathing—what explains the gender difference in sleep disordered breathing-Sleep 1993;16S1–S2
Dancey D.R. P.J. Hanly C. Soong B. Lee and V. Hoffstein Impact of mepause on the prevalence and severity of sleep apnea. Chest 2001;120151–155
Bixler E.O. A.N. Vgontzas H.M. Lin et al. Prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing in women effects of gender. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2001;163608–613
Shahar E. S. Redline T. Young et al. Hormone replacement therapy and sleep-disordered breathing. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2003;1671186–1192
Manber R. T.F. Kuo N. Cataldo et al. The effects of hormone replacement therapy on sleep-disordered breathing in postmepausal women a pilot study. Sleep 2003;26163–18
Wesstroem J. J. Ulfberg and S. Nilsson Sleep apnea and hormone replacement therapy a pilot study and a literature review. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 2005;8454–57
Keefe D.L. R. Watson and F. Naftolin Hormone replacement therapy may alleviate sleep apnea in mepausal women a pilot study. Mepause 1999;6196–200
Cistulli P.A. D.J. Barnes R.R. Grunstein and C.E. Sullivan Effect of short-term hormone replacement in the treatment of obstructive sleep apea in postmepausal women. Thorax 1994;49699–702
Thorpy M. The International Classification of Sleep Disorders revised. Rochester MD Davies Printing Company 1997223227
Belchetz P.E. Drug therapy hormonal treatment of postmepausal women. NEJM 1994;3301062–1071
Krystal A.D. J. Ediger W. Wohlgemuth et al. Sleep in perimepausal and postmepausal women. Sleep Med Rev 1998;2243–253
Shaver J.L.F. and S.N. Zenk Sleep disturbance in mepause. J Women Health Gender Med 2000;9109–118
Anarte M.T. J.L. Cuadros and J. Herrera Hormonal and psychological treatment therapeutic alternative for mepausal women-Maturitas 1998;19203–213
Rudolph I. E. Palombo-Kinne B. Kirsch et al. Influence of a continuous combined HRT 2 mg estradiol valerate and 2 mg diegest on postmepausal depression. Climacteric 2004;7301–311
Thomson J. and I. Oswald Effect of oestrogen on the sleep mood and anxiety of mopausal women. Br Med J 1977;21317–1319
Tworoger S.S. Y. Yasui M.V. Vitiello et al. Effects of a yearlong moderate-intensity exercise and a stretching intervention on sleep quality in postmepausal women. Sleep 2003;26830–836
Schiff I. Q. Regestein D. Tulchinsky and K.J. Ryan Effects of estrogens on sleep and psychological state of hypogonadal women. JAMA 1979;2422405–2407
Antonijevic I.A. G.K. Stalla and A. Steiger Modulation of the sleep electroencephalogram by estrogen replacement in postmepausal women. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2000;182277–282
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Moline, M., Broch, L., Zak, R. (2006). The Impact of Life Cycle on Sleep in Women. In: Attarian, H.P. (eds) Sleep Disorders in Women. Current Clinical Neurology. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-115-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-115-4_4
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-592-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-115-4
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)