At 59, Brooke Shields Gets Candid About Sleep After Reaching ‘a Certain Age’
Brooke Shields shared that “at a certain age” she “stopped sleeping.”
“It’s not for the faint of heart,” she said.
Menopause can disrupt sleep in multiple ways.
Brooke Shields is an unofficial spokesperson for the pro-aging movement, mostly because she’s always honest about the good and the bad of getting older. And she stayed true to that in answering how she’s doing in a recent Instagram Q&A. “I’m always tired,” she said. “And the real kicker is that after a certain age I’ve stopped sleeping. It’s not for the faint of heart.”
The 59-year-old also attributed her fatigue to being a busy person. “If you’re a mom, you’re tired. If you’re a business owner, you’re tired. So I’m always tired,” she said. “It’s just all, like, difficult.”
Shields didn’t go into detail, but her reference to disrupted sleep “at a certain age” might allude to menopause sleep problems. There are a few different ways the transition can keep you up, one being night sweats. According to a review published in the Journal of Mid-Life Health, more than 80% of women experience them, and they last, acutely, one to five minutes on average. That doesn’t account for the time you might spend replacing sweat-soaked sheets or changing clothes, though, all before attempting to fall back asleep.
Menopausal dips in mental health—including depression and anxiety—can also throw a wrench in sleep hygiene. Mood swings are common during the transition because fluctuating estrogen and progesterone levels, plus other factors, cause serotonin production disruption, per the Endocrine Society.
Some people also experience increased insomnia during menopause. Researchers have theorized that the slew of bodily changes happening simultaneously might be the cause, but it can also be exacerbated by sleep apnea, a condition that studies have shown is more common in post- than pre-menopausal women. All of these symptoms may be alleviated or at least improved by following a sleep schedule, skipping caffeine, and exercising, among other lifestyle changes, per the National Institute on Aging.
In her quick video, Shields shared a moment of solidarity with fellow women whose lives are being interrupted by not just the change, but life in general. And yet, she presses on. “I think deep down, the things that really matter the most to me, [are] my family, their health,” she said. “The fact that I’m still standing—those things feed my soul.”
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