You went to bed exhausted. So why are you wide awake at 3am?
Does this feel familiar?
You fall asleep easily. You're exhausted. You've been looking forward to getting into bed all day and, for once, you actually drift off without much trouble.
Then, somewhere in the middle of the night.
You're awake.
You look at the clock.
2.47am.
Your body feels completely exhausted, but somehow your brain has decided it's time to switch on.
You start thinking about tomorrow. What you've got to do. What you forgot to do today. What might happen tomorrow. How you're possibly going to function on so little sleep.
You check the time again.
And then comes the thought:
"I MUST get back to sleep."
And somehow, that makes it even harder.
If you've experienced this during perimenopause, you're certainly not alone.
We hear plenty about hot flushes and night sweats, but the wired and tired experience deserves some attention too. That feeling of being utterly exhausted while your mind seems to have other ideas.
And when you're already juggling work, family, relationships, responsibilities and everything else that comes with life, being awake in the early hours can feel incredibly frustrating.
You Don't Need Another Thing to Do
But here's what you don't need.
Another list of things you should be doing.
Another bedtime routine. Another thing to remember. Another rule about what time you should stop drinking coffee, when you should put your phone down or what you should be doing differently.
Because sometimes even the advice about getting better sleep becomes another thing to do.
And perhaps what you need isn't another thing to do.
Perhaps you need rest.
And perhaps you need permission to rest.
Rest Is Not the Same as Sleep
This is where yoga nidra has a place. Not as an answer to any of it, and not as another thing to add to the list, but simply as rest.
Yoga nidra offers an opportunity to experience a deep state of rest while being guided and supported.
It's not about trying harder. It's not about clearing your mind. And it's not about being "good" at meditation.
It's about giving yourself permission to stop for a while. To put down the mental to do list. To put down some of that mind junk. To let yourself be supported rather than constantly having to hold everything together. And to remember what genuine rest actually feels like.
The more opportunities we give ourselves to experience deep rest, the more familiar that state can become.
Rather than always running on empty, we give ourselves moments where we can pause.
We can stop doing. We can stop fixing. We can simply be.
You Don't Have to Wait Until Bedtime
One of the things I love about yoga nidra is that it doesn't have to be reserved for bedtime.
It can be practised during the day when you need a pause. In the evening when you want to wind down. Or, yes, even in the middle of the night when you're awake and frustrated.
The aim isn't to force yourself to sleep. It's to take away some of the pressure. To give your body and mind somewhere to rest.
You don't need to be flexible — as I wrote back in September, that has never been the entry requirement for anything I teach. You don't need any previous yoga experience. You don't need to be able to meditate. And you don't need to empty your mind.
You just need somewhere comfortable to lie down and permission to stop doing for a while.
You don't have to earn rest. You are allowed to have it.
One thing worth saying plainly. Perimenopause is a significant transition, and there is real medical support available for it. If the nights are wearing you down, please do talk to your GP or a menopause specialist. What happens in a session sits alongside that care rather than in place of it.
Somewhere to Put It Down
I offer one-to-one yoga nidra sessions in person across North Essex, from Colchester and Braintree through to Saffron Walden, and online wherever you happen to be.
A quiet, supportive space where you can step away from the noise and simply rest.
No pressure. No performance. No need to achieve anything.
Just time to pause, rest and reset.
Get in touch and we'll find a time that suits you.