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

The Real Health Risks of Sleep Deprivation in Menopause

15 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, Dr. Betty Murray argues that sleep deprivation and insomnia pose dangers comparable to drunk driving. She references major historical catastrophes—the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Bhopal chemical disaster—where post‑incident investigations identified sleep deprivation as a contributing factor. Dr. Murray then outlines research findings that link insufficient sleep to a cascade of adverse outcomes: cognitive errors, poor judgment, reduced balance, heightened fall risk, and accelerated loss of bone density, all of which are especially relevant for women undergoing menopause.

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Sleep deprivation, insomnia is as dangerous as drunk driving. And you look at some of these disasters historically that have gone on, major global disasters like the Exxon Valdez tanker that crashed in Alaska decades ago, or the chemical plant in, I think it was Bhopal, India that exploded decades ago and killed a lot of people. Those both had in the research that was done after that, or the investigations, sleep deprivation as a causative factor. And when somebody is not getting enough sleep, their risk for making these, these errors, both cognitive errors, you know, poor judgment, and research has also shown we just make poor decisions, but also balance goes down. And so the risk for falling goes up and bone density also decreases at a faster rate.