I have made no secret of the fact that my sleep has been severely knocked by perimenopause. Actually, a lot of things were.

When sitting down to write this, I was going to say something about how well informed we are now about this stage of life compared to earlier generations. Then I remembered the day I found out I was in perimenopause: a friend told me when I explained to her I’d lost the ability to name things or string a sentence together. I didn’t even know it had started. That was a few years ago and I’m still having issues. I still struggle to find the right word and my sentences can take effort but I’ve learned that if I slow down, take a pause and visualise what I want to say, I can usually get there.

But there is one thing I hadn’t been able to get on top of – till now – and that is sleep.

I should point out, I’ve always been a great sleeper. As a kid, I slept no problem (even with the recurrent nightmare). As a teen, I could do 12 hours straight and still want more. I also mastered the art of coming home from school, sitting at the table and resting my head on my arm as I got a good 20-30 mins nap in. (Although, looking back I’m starting to think I was seriously anaemic).

At college, I slept through alarms, people banging on my door etc. Even in my 20s, sleep wasn’t an issue. After my bike accident and resulting back injury, sleep was a challenge initially but I still managed.

Present day however?

Can’t get to sleep, can’t stay asleep, never have enough sleep. My only saving grace is my expert level cat napping ability. I couldn’t understand what was going on and for a while, it got me down. Really down. I started to hate going to bed. What was the point if I wouldn’t sleep? I’d see hour after hour pass on the clock. I’d read my book by torchlight, I’d go downstairs to write while everyone else slept. I was at my wits end and I found out I wasn’t alone. Turns out the whole peri/menopause time affects the sleep of A LOT of women – I’ve seen numbers reported ranging from 40% to 79% of us. We’re exhausted and ironically, no matter how tired we are, we still can’t sleep.

Sound familiar? Well, if it does, I have some fantastic news. You see, for the last week, I have been sleeping (not for the whole week obviously). I’ve been able to stop the constant stream of thoughts that spiral through my head at night. I’ve gone from this:

“Right, just go to sleep. What time is it now? If I get 5 hours can I function tomorrow? What do I need to do when I get up? Did I put that wash on? I wonder if I’ll hear back from that company? What will I do for lunch? Oh, I better get something out the freezer for dinner. I’m a bit sick of chicken now. Do I need to go to the shop – how much milk have we got? Think I’ve enough dog food. No wait, the trousers I want need washed so the shop will have to wait. Stop it. Go to sleep. What time is it now….?”

Over and over and over again. For hours. And if I did get to sleep, I’d wake up after a couple of hours and it would happen again. Not anymore. This past week has been more like:

“Oh man, I’m tired. Just get my pillow comfy, oh that duvet is nice and warm….zzzzzzzzzzzzzz”.

And I stay asleep. Occasionally I’ve woken up in the night due to bladder patrol and I’d expected issues but I went straight back to sleep. I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I was able to do that.

So by now, you’re wondering what’s changed? Well, it all came about through a discussion I had with a man I’d gone to see about getting something for my husband. This man owns a vape shop and sells CBD products – you’ll have seen the sort of place. Well, I went in to find out about CBD oil for my husband and we had a very long chat. I won’t go into all the ins and outs but at some point, my sleep issue came up. At this point, he went over to a cabinet and said, “I have a gift for the both of you”, and he handed me a packet of CBD gummies. I was assured they wouldn’t make us spaced out etc as they don’t have the levels of THC in them for that. But what they would do was, “allow you to allow yourself to go to sleep”. One gummie at 11pm. Just one.

I promised I’d stick to one and I’d let him know if it worked.

That night, at 11pm I had my first gummie. After a while, I noticed a gentle calming of my mind – not a major event but something a little different, a quietening. So I went to bed to see what would happen.

What happened was I woke up in the morning after 8 hours and thought, “WHAT??”. I’d fallen asleep without the chitter chatter AND I’d slept all night. ALL NIGHT.

I got so much done that day it was unbelievable. So I did the same thing every night to see if it kept happening. Now, last week wasn’t without it’s stress: I spent a long time trying to find meds online for Dearest Hubby, another battle trying to get a fence panel for the garden (that’s a story for another day) and also arranging something for an early birthday present, which had to be delivered. (Insert lots of call and texts and quotes etc). And all of this had to have funds found so now insert lots of selling online!

My point is, I had a very busy and stressful week on top of my usual type of week and trying to fit in Christmas preparations too. So those gummies had a challenge.

I had one night where getting to sleep was a bit more difficult. Not as bad as before, just not as good as I’d discovered it could be. One night out of a a stress-filled week? Not a bad result I’d say.

Now, if I went to the doctor and told them I couldn’t sleep, what do you think I’d have been offered? A week’s worth of sleeping pills maybe? HRT? Anti-depressants probably. In short, something to numb me. We don’t need numbed. We need to allow ourselves to allow ourselves to sleep!

I really feel like this is a revelation – revolution? Resolution? Whatever it is, it’s a game changer. I’d never thought of CBD to help me sleep. I thought that stuff was just for the stoners. Turns out a LOT of normal, everyday people like you and me, use it. Pain relief is a biggie, so it’s not just for sleep – it has many benefits. I think my generation and older ones, have a certain view when it comes to CBD and I now realise, I at least, was wrong.

So, I’m hoping what I’m telling you today will be able to help someone. Maybe you can’t sleep. Maybe your monkey mind chatter won’t settle. Maybe you’re in too much pain to sleep. Well, maybe CBD gummies or oil will help that.

Now, I’ve included photos of the ones I was given and you’ll see the company’s website address there (no affiliate by the way). But wherever you get them from, you need to be aware of something. The guy in the shop explained to me there are over 100 compounds in CBD – it’s not just the THC and there you go. There are strict legal limits – in the UK anyway, about how much THC is allowed in the product. And some of the compounds are better than others – there are a handful that are illegal. The company he deals with is very careful about this and makes a high quality, legal product. They even provide documentation to prove this. But not every company does. Some only put in 2 or 3 compounds but say ‘a range’ on their labels. They’re not lying but it’s not the quality you want.

If you’re in the UK I can recommend ‘LiveWell CBD’. If you’re elsewhere, you’ll need to look around but it won’t be too difficult. Ask in your local vape shop if you’re not sure!

So, if you’re tired of being tired, I urge you to give this a go and when you do, I’d love to know how you get on.

Disclaimer: This post explains my own personal experience. Please do your own research and make your own decisions.