Hormonal
During the post-ovulatory luteal phase (LP) of the menstrual cycle, elevated progesterone levels increase core body temperature and reduce the nocturnal decline in body temperature, which contributes to subjective sleep disturbances and altered sleep architecture (specifically reduced REM sleep and increased spindle frequency activity) in healthy women.
If you are a healthy woman, expect your sleep architecture to change during the week before your period. You may experience less deep REM sleep and more sleep spindles due to a natural rise in body temperature driven by progesterone. This is a normal physiological shift, not a failure of your sleep hygiene. If you suffer from severe mood or sleep symptoms (PMDD), chronotherapeutic methods to realign circadian rhythms may help.
This upward shift in the thermoregulatory set-point is most likely due to progesterone, which possesses thermogenic properties... and was shown to increase the firing rate of cold-sensitive (i.e., body warming) neurons in the preoptic anterior hypothalamus (POAH)... The LP-associated increase in SFA is most likely a result of the neuroactive metabolites of progesterone acting as agonistic modulators of central nervous system GABAA-receptors in a benzodiazepine-like manner.
Why this rating
The paper is a review of multiple studies showing consistent patterns in sleep architecture and hormone levels, though some hormonal rhythm data is inconsistent.
Source
Sleep, Hormones, and Circadian Rhythms throughout the Menstrual Cycle in Healthy Women and Women with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
Ari Shechter et al. · International Journal of Endocrinology · 2010
DOI 10.1155/2010/259345
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