Your Period Could Be Ruining Your Sleep

If you’re one of the many who end up binge-watching Netflix at 2 AM or doom-scrolling till sunrise during PMS week, your hormones might be to blame, not your willpower. In this blog, we’ll explore the surprising ways sleep and your period are connected, how disrupted rest can throw off your hormones, and what you can do tonight to help your cycle feel more in sync tomorrow.

Understanding Your Cycle: A Quick Breakdown

The menstrual cycle typically lasts around 28 days and is divided into four main phases: the menstrual phase, the follicular phase, the ovulation phase, and the luteal phase. It begins with the menstrual phase (your period), when the uterus sheds its lining due to low levels of estrogen and progesterone. Next comes the follicular phase, during which estrogen levels rise steadily as the body prepares to release an egg.

Around mid-cycle, a surge in luteinising hormone (LH) triggers ovulation — the release of the egg. After ovulation, during the luteal phase, progesterone takes the lead, helping to stabilise the uterine lining in case of pregnancy. If fertilisation doesn’t occur, hormone levels drop again, triggering the next period. These hormone shifts also influence your mood, energy, sleep and skin.

Why You Can’t Sleep During Your Period (Blame Your Hormones)

Sleep disruptions during menstruation aren’t just due to cramps. They often start a full week before your period arrives. Your reproductive hormones (estrogen and progesterone) don’t just influence your menstrual cycle; they have a significant role in how well (or poorly) you sleep.

In the first half of your cycle (the follicular phase), rising estrogen levels can help you feel more energised and mentally sharp, but too much estrogen without enough progesterone can sometimes lead to restlessness or trouble falling asleep. Around ovulation, there’s a brief estrogen dip, which may cause night sweats during your period, trigger headaches or mood swings.

After ovulation, progesterone levels increase during the luteal phase. This hormone is known for its calming, sedative-like effect; think of it as your body’s natural sleep aid. But if progesterone is low, you might experience PMS-related insomnia, anxiety, or frequent night wakings. And during your period? Drops in both estrogen and progesterone can lead to temperature changes, bloating, cramps, and headaches — all of which can disrupt your sleep.

How Sleep Habits Influence Your Periods

Good sleep doesn’t just help you feel rested — it plays a key role in keeping your menstrual cycle on track. When you sleep well, your body produces enough melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate your internal clock (also called your circadian rhythm). But melatonin does more than just tell you when it’s time for bed. It also helps maintain your reproductive hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone, in balance.

If you’re not getting enough sleep or your sleep schedule is erratic (think: late nights, weekend sleep-ins, night shifts), your melatonin levels may drop. That can throw off the hormonal rhythm that tells your body when to ovulate — the release of an egg mid-cycle. Without proper ovulation, your body may not make enough progesterone (a hormone that helps you feel calm and sleep better), which can result in irregular periods or shorter cycles.

Poor sleep also raises cortisol, your primary stress hormone. And high cortisol can mess with your entire hormonal system, delaying ovulation, shortening your cycle, or even stopping your period altogether.

Research shows that women who worked rotating night shifts for 20+ months were 23% more likely to report irregular cycles compared to women with regular daytime schedules. This is primarily because their sleep-wake patterns disrupt the hormonal signals that regulate their menstrual cycles.

These women were also 49% more likely to have very long cycles (40+ days) and 27% more likely to have very short cycles (less than 21 days). Importantly, the longer women worked night shifts, the more likely they were to experience irregular periods.

Sleep Habits: Red Flags To Watch Out For

Estrogen, progesterone, and melatonin constantly influence your hormones and sleep cycle, and that balance is fragile.

Some bedtime habits might seem harmless, but can quietly sabotage your hormones and sleep quality, especially during the second half of your menstrual cycle.

• Screens before bed: Blue screen light from your phone or laptop tricks your brain into thinking it’s still daytime. This suppresses melatonin production, delaying both sleep onset and hormonal shifts that rely on melatonin’s cues.
• Irregular sleep and wake times: Your body loves routine. Sleeping at wildly different hours on weekdays vs. weekends confuses your internal clock, leading to disrupted hormone signalling, particularly in the hypothalamus, which coordinates your reproductive hormones.
• Caffeine, stimulation, and stress: That late-afternoon cold brew or hours of back-to-back scrolling keep your nervous system wired. Stress raises cortisol, which in turn interferes with ovulation and your body’s ability to produce progesterone, worsening both your sleep and your period symptoms.

What You Can Do To Break The Cycle

A few tweaks to your sleep hygiene for hormonal balance can improve the regularity of your menstrual cycle. You don’t need to overhaul your entire lifestyle, just support your body with a few consistent habits:

• Keep a regular sleep schedule, even on weekends. Going to bed and waking up around the same time helps stabilise melatonin and cortisol patterns.
• Turn off screens an hour before bed. Blue light-blocking glasses help, but unplugging entirely gives your brain the space to wind down.
• Try a magnesium-rich bedtime snack (like almonds or a banana) or a calming tea with chamomile or valerian root. Magnesium helps support both sleep quality and relief from PMS symptoms.
• Many women now track their cycle and sleep together to spot patterns and manage symptoms better. Use a journal or a period tracking app. Once you notice correlations, you can pre-emptively adjust your habits.

When Everything Is Shifting, Start With Sleep

Think of good sleep as hormone therapy without the prescription. It helps your body regulate everything from ovulation and stress to your mood swings and the timing of your menstrual cycle. And in a world that glorifies hustle, rest might just be your secret superpower. So do what you can to keep your sleep and cycle in sync. Your hormones will thank you!

Unpredictable Periods Need Predictable Protection

If your sleep patterns and your menstrual cycle become irregular, it’s hard to predict when bleeding might start. You could go weeks without a period, then suddenly get spotting or a full flow out of nowhere.

That’s where Mahina’s period panty comes in handy. It offers a stress-free backup on days when you’re not sure if your period is about to start. Even better, it’s comfortable enough to wear overnight, so you can sleep through the night without worrying about leaks.

When your hormones are unpredictable, your protection should be anything but.