When women are suffering from premenstrual insomnia, they have a sharp drop in the hormone progesterone. A woman's body gives this hormone off each month when they ovulate. Just before they have a period, the production of progesterone slows down or falls off in a dramatic manner. This will often cause a woman to wake up in the middle of night, usually around 3 o'clock. This can vary of course, depending on what time you go to bed.

When a woman suffers from premenstrual insomnia, her ability to sleep is not only affected, but the quality of her sleep suffers as well. Your brain is most active during REM sleep. This usually occurs about an half and a half after we fall asleep. But when women ovulate and progesterone makes their body temperature increase, REM sleep occurs within an hour, and you reduce the deep-sleep stage that happens right before you are in REM sleep. This is similar to what happens to people who are suffering from depression or are jet lagged. But this deep sleep is very important. It is when the body repairs itself.

The National Sleep Foundation conducted a poll and found that 67 percent of women who menstruate have trouble two or three nights a week during every menstrual cycle. Dr. Kathryn Lee is a sleep researcher at the University of California San Francisco was in charge of that poll. She conducted studies, and she discovered that women who are suffering from PMS had no deep sleep at all.

If you are suffering from premenstrual insomnia , there are things you can do to get good, sound sleep. Check out the book Stop Insomnia here