A practical nutritional guide for the management of sleep disturbances in menopause

Abstract

Sleep disturbances (SD) represent one of the main symptoms of menopause and they are caused by several factors. Hormonal changes such as the reduction of oestrogen levels and the consequent vasomotor symptoms (VMS) along with psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety could contribute to the onset of SD. Furthermore, obesity per sè or through the obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) could blunt sleep. Moreover, in menopause is usual a reduction in melatonin, that could contribute to SD. Nutritional strategies are paramount because they could contribute to manage menopause-related SD, in particular tackling obesity and overweight. Furthermore, some foods, such as soy, fish, whole grains, vegetables and fruit could decrease symptoms like depression and VMS, correlated with SD in postmenopausal women. Therefore, the aim of this review is to provide an overview of the current evidence on SD in menopause and to provide nutritional strategies for managing SD in this context.

Keywords:

• Sleep disturbances
• menopause
• diet
• nutritionist
• obesity
• vasomotor symptoms

Acknowledgements

The assistance of the staff is gratefully appreciated.

Author contributions

The authors’ responsibilities were as follows: DL and GM: were responsible for the concept of this paper and drafted the manuscript; DL, LB, GM: provided a critical review of the paper. All authors contributed to and agreed on the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).