Yo-El Ju

Also, women have hot flashes.

They also just have awakenings for no apparent reason sometimes during menopause.

And this probably has to do with how our hormones help regulate our sleep continuity and sleep quality.

So it's not inevitable, but it is very common for menopause.

for women to have a decline in their sleep during menopause.

And at least if someone is having sleep problems bad enough that they're coming to see me at a sleep center, I always test for sleep apnea because common things being common, we do need to look for that and treat it as a serious sleep disorder.

So, I...

Do I have antibodies to alcohol?

No.

So we know that alcohol is not good for your sleep.

So obviously, alcohol can have sedating effects because of its effects on, say, GABA.

It can also, you know, help people fall asleep initially.

But I always discourage people from using alcohol for sleep because there is a very rapid physical tolerance where people will need higher and higher doses to help them fall asleep.

Also, alcohol wrecks sleep.

in the second part of the night.

It suppresses REM sleep in the first half of the night, and so then you have to catch up in the second half of the night.

But then there's a lot of awakenings as well.

And so a lot of times people will have those awful 3 a.m.

awakenings where they feel anxious and sweaty and waking up in these awful dreams.

So when people come to me and say, I'm waking up at 3 a.m.