Dr. Betty MurrayHelping Women Navigate Menopause | Speaker, Author, and Advocate for Women's Health Over 40

Sleep Is Non-Negotiable for HPA Recovery

27 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, Dr. Betty Murray stresses that adequate sleep is essential and cannot be substituted by supplements for recovering the hypothalamic‑pituitary‑adrenal (HPA) axis. She advises that if sleep problems persist, underlying causes must be identified, including possible declines in estrogen and progesterone that may be addressed with hormone replacement therapy. Dr. Murray also recommends screening for sleep disorders—particularly sleep apnea and upper airway resistance—highlighting that these conditions are more prevalent and can manifest at lower severity thresholds in women than in men. She offers a partnership with a sleep specialist to help patients evaluate and treat these issues.

Chapters

One of the other really important things here is sleep is non-negotiable. You can't out-supplement sleep. You can't, there's just no way. And you will never recover your HPA if you don't get sleep dialed in. So if you can't sleep, we got to figure out why. This is a perfect place to look at hormone replacement therapy because it might also be that you've got estrogen and progesterone declining behind the scenes that are causing things. Get checked out for sleep apnea or sleep disorders. We have a sleep partner that we can connect you with that is great to help you understand what is going on. With your ability to sleep and sleep apnea and upper airway resistance affects women at much lower doses than men and is way more prevalent in women than what has been perceived in the, in the medical community. So get it checked out.