One of the longstanding problems on my midlife trip has been how to
get a good night's sleep.  When I was a late 40-something moving from
perimenopause into the big "M", night sweats decimated my sleep
pattern.  I used to wake up as drenched as if I had just run a
marathon.  By the time I finished drying off, changing clothes and
linens it was almost time to get up for a new day.

Then as a young 50-something, menopause hit me with plain old
insomnia.  Awake at 2am -- I was the person you could call at that hour
because I would be up night after night.  The worst part was the
infomercials.  I'd turn on the television and get sucked in by some
ridiculous commercial targeted at  insomniacs like me.  I'm embarrassed
to tell you what I ordered during those early morning hours.  But my
family still teases me about the electronic kitty litter that activated
on its own even when the cat was nowhere in sight.

Now in my late 50-something years, there are two main things that
impact my sleep patterns -- acid reflux and my laptop.  Some days, I
think turning off the laptop is a bigger issue.  So I'm always looking
for ways to deal with insomnia.

In A Woman's Guide to Sleep Disorders, Dr. Meir Kryger gives 13 tips for getting to sleep - try a couple for starters and see how they work:

1. Use your bedroom only for sleep and sex. Great advice!  But
   if you like me and sleeping alone - mostly - the sex part of this tip
   might be a vision that keeps you awake.  All kidding aside, the point
   here is no sitting in bed with your laptop thinking that somehow you'll
   fall asleep while blogging.  It hasn't happened yet for me.
2. If you can't go to sleep do something relaxing. This goes
   hand and hand with the next tip about calming your brain before sleep. 
   I wish there was a shut off switch but in lieu of that, I've gotten a
   couple of CDs over the years with relaxing, almost meditative music. 
   They help.
3. Calm your brain before bed - that means no blogging and no
   TV.  Hard for me because I like watching Frasier reruns which don't
   even start until midnight.
4. Don't eat heavy stuff before bedtime -- for me late night snacking triggers acid reflux attacks.  Nighttime seems the worst for those.
5. Don't watch the clock. I typically don't do this but when it
   happens it's always the night before a big day.  The worst thing is to
   look at the clock and see that only an hour has passed since you last
   looked.  I turn the clock so it faces the other direction.
6. Create a wind-down ritual. Warm bath, meditation, soft music
   -- these all work for me.  Also listening to the purring of Coco Puff,
   queen of the castle and my regular sleeping companion.
7. Reduce stress. I'm a long way from mastering this tip but some deep breathing is my current fallback strategy.
8. Don't take long naps during the day. This isn't a problem
   for me because I've never been a napper.  But taking short naps of less
   than 1/2 hour is supposed to be OK.
9. Exercise often but not right before bed. Apparently sex is an exception to this rule.
10. Set a regular bedtime. This is one of the hardest things for
    me to do because if I'm on a roll, which usually means doing something
    online, it's hard to shut my laptop down at 10:30p and hit the sack. 
    Anyone else have this problem?
11. Warm up with a hot drink or bath. Chris Canavan, entrepreneur and blogger over at the Better Than Chocolate Boutique suggests a nice warm but sexy pair of pajamas
    as an essential part of your get-to-sleep toolkit even if you sleep
    alone.  OK, Chris I suppose it's time to ditch my warm but worn and
    faded flannel PJs from Costco.
12. Eliminate caffeine, alcohol or cigarettes. I don't do
    caffeine anymore--it aggravated my hot flashes and night sweats, which
    then kept me awake.  I never smoked but I do like a little glass of
    wine some evenings.  My recent bout with acid reflux has convinced me
    to limit alcohol consumption -- especially close to bedtime.
13. Check in with your doctor if you're taking sleep meds to
    make sure they're not part of the problem.  I tried Ambien once.  Fact
    is that I didn't like it so I stopped taking it.  I like knowing that
    if I need to wake up, I can.  It's a control freak thing.  So I'm more
    of a fan of natural remedies to sleep problems.  But if you're taking
    sleep meds, let your doc know if they're not working or if you're
    having one or more of the many side effects.

When all else fails, just have a good laugh by stopping by the Accidental Blogger
for a great graphic on how a woman's mind works.  When you see this
picture, you'll have a sense of the real reason why we can't sleep.

Midlife muse and certified coach, Karen Batchelor blogs at Midlife's a Trip and as contributing editor on midlife issues at BlogHer.  You can also visit at her new site at Midlife Career Path.