A Sleep Diva at 42

I don’t think I’m in perimenopause yet, either, which scares me, because things only promise to get worse from there. At perimenopause, according to experts, estrogen and progesterone, which help regulate sleep, take a dive, making matters worse. Add to that the handful of symptoms I may have to look forward to, like hot flashes, and I’ll need a horse pill-sized Ambien to put me out.

But if I worry about that now, at 10 PM, I’ll never get to sleep. So in the meantime, I’ll keep doing all the things the experts say to do—exercise, keep my weight in check so I don’t develop sleep apnea, and try to be moderately sane so that my nerves aren’t on a hair trigger. It’s that last one that I find to be the biggest challenge. There must be a solution. I’ll just have to sleep on it.

Are you a sleep fussbudget too? Share your specific bedtime rituals by writing a comment.

When you're done here, check out formerlyhot.com, Stephanie's blog about being too old to be young and too young to be old.