Menopausal Hormones May Cause Sleep Apnea in Women

Waking Headaches 

Along with the effects of perimenopause and menopause, many women will also find themselves experiencing the side effects to sleep apnea which can include things like waking headaches. If someone already suffers from headaches like migraine or cluster headaches, they're two to eight times more likely to develop sleep apnea and wake with headaches if they have sleep apnea. Low oxygen levels are what causes the headaches associated with sleep apnea. When the oxygen levels become low, the blood vessels tend to widen and the theory is that this vasodilation then leads to intracranial pressure which results in headaches that generally occur between the hours of four and nine in the morning.