Tania Lewis, BHSc (Naturopathy), BN, a naturopath for women whose energy, digestion and sleep have changed.
I see clients in Rutherglen and Yarrawonga, and online across Australia.
When sleep stops working
You used to sleep. Not perfectly, but well enough.
Now you’re wide awake at 3am with your mind going. Or you sleep through and still wake tired. Or you’re lying there at midnight, exhausted and wired at the same time.
You’re not alone in it. In a 2023 study of 7,956 Australian women aged around 70, 70.2% reported at least one symptom of sleep problems, such as taking a long time to fall asleep or waking early (Khalesi et al., 2023).
Common isn’t the same as something you just have to put up with.
Why it’s rarely just a sleep problem
Is your blood sugar dropping overnight? Is cortisol rising earlier than it should? Is last night’s wine wearing off? Is stress keeping your nervous system on? Or is it all four?
- Overnight blood sugar. When blood sugar dips in the small hours, your body treats it as a problem. It releases stress hormones to bring it back up. Those same hormones wake you, and switch your brain on. In my clinical experience, that’s why 3am waking often traces back to dinner, and to the day before.
- Cortisol. Cortisol should be low overnight and rise towards morning. Broken sleep and falling oestrogen both push it the wrong way. In a study that recreated menopause-like conditions, fragmented sleep raised bedtime cortisol by 27 per cent (Cohn et al., 2023). That’s part of why broken sleep can feed itself.
- Alcohol. It can help you drop off. Then it breaks up the second half of the night. A 2026 review found alcohol consistently disrupts sleep structure and increases waking, particularly later in the night, and shouldn’t be treated as a sleep aid (Chaput, 2026).
I’m not here to take your wine off you. But two weeks without, and noticing what 3am looks like, is a useful experiment. - Stress load. If you’re carrying a lot, your nervous system doesn’t switch off just because the light does.
Why sleep hygiene hasn’t been enough
Regular bedtimes, no screens, no coffee after lunch. It’s reasonable advice, and I give it too.
But sleep hygiene addresses behaviour. It doesn’t touch the blood sugar and hormone patterns underneath. If those are what’s waking you, a darker bedroom won’t fix it.
Where menopause fits
Sleep is one of the places where hormones genuinely play a direct role. Falling oestrogen and progesterone change how deeply you sleep and how easily you wake.
But that doesn’t mean nothing can be looked at. Blood sugar, alcohol, stress and what you eat in the evening all interact with it, and those are things you can change.
What I look at
Before we meet, I read any blood results you already have. If you haven’t had tests for a while, we’ll work out which ones are worth doing. In the room, we go through:
- When you go to bed and when you wake
- How long it takes you to fall asleep
- When you wake overnight, how often and what wakes you
- How rested you feel on waking, and how energy shifts through the day
- What you eat in the day and in the hours before bed
- Alcohol, caffeine, stress and medication
I work alongside your GP, not instead of them. If your sleep pattern suggests something that needs medical review, such as snoring with breathing pauses, I’ll tell you.
You’ll receive a written plan: what we’re starting with, why and what’s coming later.
How long does it take?
Care may take three to six months, sometimes longer. There’s no overnight fix or magic pill, and the changes are yours to make.
Along the way, I track energy, sleep and stress out of ten, so you can see what is and isn’t shifting.
“Most women who come to me have been unwell for years, not weeks. I’m not going to undo that in one consult, and I won’t pretend otherwise.”
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost?
An Initial Clinical Assessment is 60 to 75 minutes, $220. Follow-up Consultations are 30 to 45 minutes, $150. Pathology and supplements are billed separately, at your cost.
I need less sleep now I’m older, don’t I?
Sleep need doesn’t drop much with age. The ability to stay asleep does. You may be getting less and getting used to it.
Do I have to give up coffee?
Not necessarily. When you drink it matters more than whether you drink it. We’ll look at your timing first.
Do I need to stop my medication or HRT?
No. I never ask anyone to stop prescribed medication. It’s part of your picture, and I factor it in.
You can find me in person, and online across Australia
In person —
Rutherglen, VIC
74 Main Street,
Rutherglen VIC 3685
Wednesday, Thursday
In person — Yarrawonga, VIC
31-33 Belmore Street, Yarrawonga VIC 3730
Tuesday
Online
Online consultations are available Australia-wide during the Rutherglen hours.
All appointments are booked online. Full prepayment is required.
A 48-hour cancellation and rescheduling policy applies.
Your next step
If sleep is one of several things that have changed, that’s the pattern I look at in an Initial Clinical Assessment.
Related: Blog: Why do I wake at 3am? · Fatigue and low energy · Thyroid health
References
Chaput, J.-P. (2026). Alcohol, wine, and sleep in adults: Insights from a narrative review. Nutrients, 18(4), 585. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu18040585
Cohn, A. Y., Grant, L. K., Nathan, M. D., Wiley, A., Abramson, M., Harder, J. A., Crawford, S., Klerman, E. B., Scheer, F. A. J. L., Kaiser, U. B., Rahman, S. A., & Joffe, H. (2023). Effects of sleep fragmentation and estradiol decline on cortisol in a human experimental model of menopause. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 108(11), e1347-e1357. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgad285
Khalesi, S., Vandelanotte, C., Irwin, C., Vincent, G. E., Gupta, C., & Mishra, G. D. (2023). Symptoms of sleep problems and adherence to dietary guidelines in older women: Evidence from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. Public Health Nutrition, 26(8), 1679-1685. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980023001052
This page is general information, not personal medical advice.
It doesn’t replace individual assessment or care from your GP or treating practitioners.