Sleepless: How to Cope with Insomnia – The Happy Menopause Podcast

Season 5 • Episode 15
Annabel Abbs, Author & Researcher

Chronic insomnia can be very stressful – not only are you feeling tired and worried about how you’ll cope the next day, but you’re probably also worrying about all those stories you’ve heard about the potential long-term health impact of not sleeping. And that means that you’re even less likely to get to sleep! Women are generally much more prone to sleep disorders than men, and when we reach the perfect storm of midlife, things can get very tricky. In this episode we focus on the potential benefits of sleep loss.

I chat to author and researcher Annabel Abbs about the findings from her latest book Sleepless: Discovering the Power of the Night Self. Following a series of bereavements, Annabel charts her experience of sleep loss and her research into the way women have dealt with it over the centuries.

It’s a fascinating insight into wakefulness that turns the issue of insomnia on its head and looks at the benefits of sleep loss instead. Annabel explains how the female night self is a quite unique and extraordinary being, with increased creativity, freedom and boldness.

If you’re feeling stressed about the quality of your sleep, this episode is for you, because you’ll start to see the issue in a whole new way and Annabel has some great tips about dealing with insomnia.

Show Notes

Find out more about Annabel, her books and her research on her website.

Check out her latest book, Sleepless: Discovering the Power of the Night Self.

Visit her Age Well Project website or Instagram feed, which is packed with advice and research about healthy ageing.

Follow Annabel on Instagram.

Listen to my previous The Happy Menopause podcast with Annabel: 52 Ways to Walk Your Way to Health.

Here are links to the research that Annabel mentioned:

20 mins of exercise restores cognition in the sleep deprived brain Cognitive performance improves during exercise – even when a person’s sleep deprived and low on oxygen – could be changes to the amount of brain regulating hormones, as well as a number of psychophysiological factors including cerebral blood flow, arousal and motivation.

And this study shows that half an hour of exercise eliminated the increased mortality associated with short sleep (ie if you’re fit and healthy, lack of sleep won’t increase your chance of dying)… HALF AN HOUR OF DAILY EXERCISE ELIMINATES THE INCREASED MORTALITY ASSOCIATED WITH SHORT SLEEP (less than 6 hours).

In those doing daily exercise, sleep duration was not linked with risk of death. For cardiovascular death, short sleepers with a low volume of exercise had a 69% elevated risk, which disappeared when exercise increased to moderate or high volumes.

 

Biography

Annabel Abbs is an internationally best selling author of seven books, translated into over 30 languages. She also writes for several newspapers and magazines including the Guardian, Washington Post, Tatler and the Telegraph, and is a co-founder of The Age-Well Project.  As Annabel Streets she is also the author of 52 Ways to Walk.  Her latest, book is Sleepless: Discovering the Power of the Night Self