It’s 3 a.m. again.

Your body, exhausted, should be resting, but instead, your eyes snap open. Maybe your heart is racing. Maybe your mind is suddenly alive with thoughts you didn’t ask for. Maybe you’re drenched in sweat, tangled in sheets, wondering why sleep - a thing you once took for granted - now feels like a battleground.

This is not just insomnia.

This is initiation.

Why Sleep Becomes Fragile in Perimenopause

Sleep was once simple - a predictable cycle of drifting off, dreaming, and waking refreshed. But as perimenopause begins its quiet, profound transformation, your sleep patterns shift.

And here’s why:

• Oestrogen and Progesterone Are Sleep Hormones
• Progesterone is deeply calming—it acts like a natural sedative, helping you drift off with ease.
• Oestrogen regulates body temperature, melatonin production, and sleep cycles.
• When these hormones start fluctuating erratically, sleep follows suit.
• Cortisol Takes the Night Shift
• If your adrenals are stressed—if your body has been in a state of high alert for years—cortisol (your stress hormone) may be surging at the wrong times.
• Instead of winding down at night, your body may be running on nervous energy.
• Blood Sugar Drops Wake You Up
• If your blood sugar crashes in the night, your body releases adrenaline to compensate.
• This is why protein before bed can sometimes help stabilize nighttime wake-ups.
• Melatonin and Dopamine Disruptions
• Oestrogen helps regulate melatonin (your sleep hormone), so as oestrogen declines, melatonin production becomes inconsistent.
• If you have ADHD or an already sensitive nervous system, this disruption can be even more pronounced.

And yet, there’s more to this than biology.

Because in perimenopause, every symptom is also a message.

The Spiritual Meaning of Sleep Disruptions

Waking in the night is not just a malfunction. It is a conversation.

Ancient wisdom tells us that the hours we wake up correspond to different aspects of our emotional and energetic state.

1 a.m. – 3 a.m.: The Hour of the Liver

• In Traditional Chinese Medicine, this is the time of the liver—the organ of detoxification.
• Waking at this hour may indicate unprocessed anger, suppressed emotions, or deep-seated frustrations.

3 a.m. – 5 a.m.: The Hour of the Lungs

• This is the time of grief, breath, and release.
• If you wake here, your body may be asking you to process something unresolved; an old loss, an identity shift, a shedding of what no longer fits.

Perimenopause is a Threshold

• It is a time of undoing and remaking, of shifting identities and releasing old versions of yourself.
• The night wakes you because there are things you cannot hear during the noise of the day.

What if the wake-ups aren’t interruptions?

What if they are invitations?

How to Work With Sleep Disruptions (Instead of Fighting Them)

1. Instead of Panicking, Listen
• If you wake up, don’t reach for your phone. Don’t check the clock and count the hours.
• Instead, breathe. Ask yourself: what is stirring in me?
2. Keep a Journal by Your Bed
• If thoughts are racing, write them down. Get them out of your body and onto the page.
3. Honour Your Nervous System Before Bed
• Magnesium glycinate supports deep sleep and nervous system relaxation.
• Blue-light blockers signal to your brain that it’s time to wind down.
• Legs-up-the-wall pose (Viparita Karani) can lower cortisol before sleep.
4. Support Blood Sugar for Restorative Sleep
• A small protein + fat snack before bed (like almonds or Greek yogurt) can stabilize overnight blood sugar dips.
5. Let Sleep Be a Ritual, Not an Obligation
• Instead of forcing yourself to sleep, create a sanctuary for rest.
• Soft lighting, calming scents, a few deep exhales—these are signals to your body that it is safe to release.

What If This Is Not a Problem to Solve?

You are not broken. Your body is not betraying you.

This is a rite of passage.

Yes, your sleep is changing. Yes, your body is asking for new rhythms. But this is not loss. This is awakening.

Maybe the night isn’t here to torment you. Maybe it’s here to teach you.

And perhaps, the woman you are becoming needs these quiet hours to find herself again.

Join a luscious, heart-centred community and wisdom hub for women in perimenopause. The Peri Moon app is available now.