Do Women Need More Sleep Than Men

As a woman, can you catch up on sleep when you fail to get adequate rest at night? If yes, here is a sleep fact that will make your eyes wide open. A study showed that sleeping extra to compensate for less sleep decreases reaction times and concentration levels. Thus, good sleep hygiene is crucial to get a good night’s sleep. 

Comparatively, women need to juggle between work-life balance more than men. As a result, lack of sleep can cause more health issues in women. Therefore, the question arises, do women need more sleep than men? Let’s dive deep into this topic and find the truth to understand.

Do Women Actually Sleep More Than Men

Do women need more sleep? Yes. Although 7 to 9 hours of sleep is vital for good quality slumber, the sleep needs depend upon many factors like an individual’s age, gender, mental and physical activity. Therefore, the biological needs of men and women are different. Women tend to wake up early to complete family responsibilities, so they need to nap during the day. However, napping for a long time during the day impacts nighttime rest negatively. 

Moreover, physiological changes in neuroendocrine hormones, body temperature, and emotional state during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause effects sleep quality. If you are still wondering whether do women actually sleep more than men, the answer is no, as the reproductive organs’ functioning process disrupts their sleep.

Women are detail-oriented. For example, while shopping for clothes, women look into fine details such as fabric, design, style, pattern, and colours. In contrast, men’s shopping is completed in a jiff. Consequently, multi-tasking and thinking over many other things disrupt their sleep at night. Therefore, the following points will help women get a good night’s sleep.

• A good quality mattress and pillows
• Keeping the room temperature at 65 degrees Fahrenheit
• Keeping all gadgets away thirty minutes before sleeping
• Following a strict bedtime ritual

Reasons Why Do Women Need More Sleep Than Men

The following are the reasons why do women need more sleep than men. Also, why do girls sleep so much? 

On Average, They Have Busier Schedules

Owing to busier schedules, women need to maintain a work-life balance more than men. Women have family responsibilities after marriage, and men rarely contribute to housework in most families. Therefore, the onus of responsibility falls primarily on women. A study showed women spent about 366 minutes and men spent about 40 minutes per day on unpaid household work. 

Women rarely think for their body, mind, and soul, as family comes first. Moreover, their multi-tasking skills make them sleep less. Lack of sleep can contribute to stress, high blood pressure, diabetes, insomnia, and sleep disorders, which can be detrimental to their health. Thus, women must take responsibility for their health to mitigate health and sleep issues.

Women Go Through More Hormonal Changes

As per the study, each phase of a woman’s life can increase the risk of sleep disturbance. It may be due to puberty, menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause. All of these make women go through hormonal changes. Pregnancy may cause dynamic physiological changes affecting sleep. Moreover, anatomic changes affect sleep duration and fragmentation and may cause breathing issues such as obstructive sleep apnea during sleep. In addition, metabolic changes may cause a risk of restless legs syndrome in women. Thus, all these factors prevent women from having a quality sleep.

Why do girls sleep so much? The reason is that a girl, during puberty, goes through hormonal changes. As a result, they feel exhausted, tired, and depressed. Thus, women and girls should focus on balancing hormones through diet and exercise under expert guidance.

Many of Them Don’t Get Enough Rest

A study was conducted in 2017 to know the work-life imbalance reasons among female employees. The reasons were long working hours, overwork, home and childcare responsibilities, and family support scarcity. Thus, they tend to get less sleep compared to their male counterparts.

Moreover, a recent study conducted in 2021 stated that about 37% of female professionals wanted to quit their job due to work-life imbalance. A busy lifestyle made women sacrifice much-needed rest. Although the study is regarding women professionals, homemakers also suffer from sleep deprivation due to huge responsibilities at home. Therefore, women should learn work and home management by delegating the work among other family members.

Lack of Sleep Has Links To Weight Gain

Circadian rhythm in the human body controls sleep-wake cycles. The hormones ghrelin and leptin regulate appetite and calorie intake. Disrupted sleep may affect these hormones by reducing sleep duration. Due to women getting insufficient sleep, the ghrelin hormone increases, stimulating hunger. Moreover, the leptin hormone decreases, causing women to eat more. As a result, most women tend to eat more junk food in stress and depression. In such a way, lack of sleep has links to weight gain. 

They Are Wired Differently

Women have better intuitive thinking, analysing, and conclusion-drawing skills than men. Although both men and women have the same neurochemicals in their brains, they are processed differently. For example, the serotonin hormone, which helps control mood, happiness, and regulation of sleep-wake cycles, is processed differently in women.

Women and their multi-tasking skills and worrying habits make the body use more serotonin leading to anxiety and depression. Furthermore, depression and anxiety lead to sleep disorders. Therefore, doctors recommend daylight exposure during the morning and afternoon to align the body clock with the sun’s rotation to help boost sleep in women.

How Much More Sleep Do Women Require

How much sleep do women need? As stated above, women, while multi-tasking, are emotionally and mentally drained. A study conducted at the Loughborough University U.K Sleep Research Center showed that women use their brains more for analysing and thinking than men. Thus, they need to sleep more to get quality rest. As they have more complex brain functions, extra sleep of 20 minutes is required. 

Conclusion

To conclude, biological reasons and work-life imbalance contribute to women’s sleep inefficiency. The hormonal changes in every phase of women’s lives are why women need more sleep than men. However, doctor’s consultations will help women work on their underlying condition. Depending upon individual preference, doctors can suggest diet, exercise, meditation, yoga, and bedtime ritual to boost sleep quality in women. 

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