One of the problems of older women is insomnia or difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep. But there is good news: according to a small study by Dr. Helena Hachul of the Universidade Federal de Sao Paolo and her colleagues, estrogen-like compounds in soy, called isoflavones, may help postmenopausal women get good sleep.
In the study, Hachul’s team randomly assigned 38 postmenopausal women with insomnia to take either 80 milligrams of the isoflavones or a placebo for four months. At the end of the period, it was found that in the isoflavones group, average sleep efficiency went from 78 percent at the beginning of the study to 84 percent, compared to that of the placebo group, wherein sleep efficiency increased from 78 percent to 81 percent.
Among women given isoflavones, 90 percent reported "moderate or intense" insomnia at the beginning of the study, while 37 percent did after four months; in the placebo group, the percentages were 95 percent and 63 percent, respectively.
Between one-third and two-thirds of postmenopausal women have insomnia, Hachul and her colleagues note, but the causes underlying those sleep complaints may be varied.
Without knowing the source of postmenopausal insomnia, the researchers cannot say why soy seemed to alleviate it for many of the women taking the isoflavones.
In addition, because the study is small, the authors caution, it "does not permit the assumption that soy will act with the same efficacy for every woman." Nevertheless, they conclude, given that insomnia troubles so many women during menopause, "phytoestrogen treatment should be considered an option to improve patients' quality of life."
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