BY JENNY SPLIT TER
eghan Mattingly is up again. On most
nights, the Capitol Hill mom is awoken
several times by one or both of her boys.

When they can’t sleep, she can’t sleep.

And Mattingly has to deal with her
own sleep issues, too. She frequently
suffers from fragmented sleep, waking up
around 2 or 3 in the morning, her mind
immediately turning to work. “Then I’m awake
for two to three hours,” she says, “just tossing
and turning.”
The struggle to get more sleep is one to
which most moms can relate. Hormonal
changes that occur during pregnancy and after
giving birth — in addition to menstruation and
menopause — can all trigger poor sleep.

“Between the ages of 25 to 69, women
disproportionately experience shorter sleep
duration and greater sleep fragmentation,”
says Christine Spadola, a sleep researcher
at Florida Atlantic University. In fact, a
November 2020 review of 13 insomnia studies
published in Frontiers in Psychology found a
FOR MOTHER’S DAY,
QUALITY SLEEP
A Rested Mom
IS THE GIFT
THAT KEEPS
ON GIVING
is a Happy Mom
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