The MenoSleep Challenge - One night. Three wakeups. Raise Money for Menopause Research
Understanding what women go through while breaking stigma and raising money for menopause research.
Most people don’t need a lecture on what happens when you don’t sleep. Everything the next day is harder. Now add night sweats, hot flashes, and being wide awake at 4 a.m. for no reason.
About 40 percent of women in perimenopause or menopause struggle with sleep. Not once in a while. Every night.
Why?
Night sweats
Hormonal anxiety
Body temperature swings
The result is broken sleep. Again and again.
In my last post, The Playbook: At Home - Step In, Don’t Hover, I wrote about The Sleep Math No One Talks About
She wakes up 3–5 times per night from a hot flash. Leanne Morgan describes a hot flash like feeling like your body is in a microwave.
Each wake takes 30+ minutes to cool down and fall back asleep
That’s 2–3 hours of lost sleep. Every. Single. Night.
Many wake up at similar times (often around 3-4 am) and can’t get back to sleep.
Sleep deprivation isn’t just frustrating. It’s a health risk and a career risk.
Midlife women dealing with this are:
More irritable and forgetful
More prone to mistakes and accidents
Thirty-one percent more likely to lose their jobs
Part of a $26 billion annual economic impact in the U.S. alone
This can last for years. While she’s still expected to lead meetings, manage kids, care for aging parents, remember errands and things around the house, and pretend she’s fine.
You probably had no idea. That’s the point. And that's why I’m starting the Menosleep Challenge, so men can get a small glimpse and empathy of what that feels like.
The MenoSleep Challenge
One night. Three alarms. Try it yourself and Raise Money For Menopause Research
What to do:
Set alarms for 12:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m., and 4:00 a.m.
When each one goes off, get out of bed
Go to another room and hop in a cold shower or do 100 jumping jacks, really fast.
Go back to bed
Wake up and go to work like normal
What do you notice?
How does your body feel?
Are you short with people?
Did you forget things?
Is your focus off?
Are you in a worse mood than usual?
That’s her normal and will be for months or years.
If you bail
You get to donate instead.
The Menopause Society funds research like the 30-year SWAN Sleep Study. Even $10 or $20 bucks helps.
Share it
Post your experience and challenge three friends to try it.
Ladies, you obviously don’t have to participate, but you can definitely challenge the men in your lives!
Tag @wtfismenopauseofficial and @menopause_society on Instagram with #MenoSleepChallenge
Tag @wtfismenopause1 on TikTok (I’m brand new tiktok so bare with me)
Every post enters you to win prizes from menopauseshoppe.com
It’s World Menopause Month.
Let’s stop pretending we understand.
Do the challenge. Or donate. But don’t ignore it.
Who’s in?
Key Data points from the SWAN study
85% of women experience at least one menopause symptom (sleep disruption being a top one)
46-48% have insomnia during menopause vs 38% before
Women with hot flashes are 3x more likely to wake up frequently at night
Symptoms last a median of 7.4 years
31% higher unemployment risk for sleep-deprived midlife women