(ANN/NYTIMES/THE STRAITS TIMES) – If you browse social media for information on healthy sleep habits, you might encounter various posts suggesting that women require more sleep than men – “dramatically more sleep”, some even claim.
The reasons given vary, including hormonal differences and the notion that women have faster-working brains than men do.
As it turns out, there is no legitimate research that suggests these claims are true.
On average, women do seem to spend several more minutes in bed every night than men do, but that does not mean they require more sleep, she said.
Men and women sleep differently
Only a handful of studies have evaluated differences in sleep duration among men and women.
In a landmark study from 2013, researchers analysed survey data from over 56,000 adults in the United States. When participants were asked about their activities during a recent 24-hour period, women reported allocating an average of 11 minutes more to sleep the previous night compared to men.
This did not specifically indicate that the women actually slept for 11 minutes more than men, however. As the study explained, the time participants reported also included the minutes they spent attempting to sleep – and women are far more likely than men to experience insomnia, said sleep scientist and assistant professor of medicine Rebecca Robbins at Harvard Medical School.
The 2013 study also found that women were nearly five times as likely as men to report sleep interruptions as a result of caregiving, usually for a child.
Research suggests that women experience lower-quality sleep, on average, than men do – whether they are caregivers or not. In a 2023 online survey of more than 2,000 adults from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, for instance, researchers found that women were nearly twice as likely as men to say they rarely or never wake up feeling well rested.
What sinks women’s sleep
Regarding the reasons women generally experience worse sleep than men, researchers lack definitive explanations. However, they possess some theories.
The hormone progesterone is linked with better sleep, and when progesterone dips just before menstruation, women tend to sleep more poorly, said Dr Shelby Harris, a clinical psychologist in New York City who specialises in sleep disorders.
Women frequently report sleep difficulties during the time leading up to and after menopause as hormone levels fluctuate.
Compared with men, women often take on more caregiving and housework, which might make it harder for women to fall and stay asleep.
Remembering to pick up the dry cleaning, check in with relatives, take the kids to school and schedule doctor’s appointments – “all of those little things can contribute to worry, and worry and stress are two of the biggest disruptions to our sleep”, Dr Robbins said.
How to know if you are getting enough rest
The length of time people sleep and the quality of that sleep do not tell people anything about how much sleep they should be getting. “Those aren’t necessarily the same thing,” Dr Robbins said.
The National Sleep Foundation says adults generally need somewhere between seven and nine hours of sleep each night, but the exact amount can vary from person to person, Dr Harris said. “There’s no one magic number,” she added.
Dr Robbins mentioned that using a smartwatch or other tracking devices to monitor your sleep can be beneficial to guarantee you receive at least seven hours a night.
But often, the best way to tell if you are getting adequate sleep is to gauge how you feel during the day.
Feeling consistently fatigued may indicate that you aren’t sleeping enough and might even have a sleep disorder.
“If you feel you get enough sleep, but you’re still tired or having problems staying awake, those are reasons to talk to your doctor,” said Dr Rachel Salas, a neurologist and sleep medicine specialist at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
