Ask Well
I've heard that women need
several hours more sleep per night than men do. Is this true?
?
If you browse social media for
information on healthy sleep habits, you may stumble across one of the many
posts arguing 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, we don't have
any legitimate research that suggests these claims are true. "There is no
evidence that there is a fundamental biological reason women need more
sleep," said Dr. Suzanne Bertisch, a physician specializing in sleep
disorders at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
?
On average, women do seem to
spend several more minutes in bed every night than men do, but that doesn't
mean they require more sleep, she said.
?
Only a handful of studies have
evaluated differences in sleep duration among men and women. In a landmark
study from 2013, researchers analyzed survey data from more than 56,000 adults
in the United States. When participants were asked how they spent their time
over a recent 24-hour period, women reported devoting an average of 11 minutes
more to sleep the previous night than men did.
?
This didn't necessarily mean 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 Rebecca Robbins, a sleep scientist and assistant professor of
medicine 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 - whether they're
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 to say they rarely or never wake up feeling well
rested.
?
As for why women tend to sleep
more poorly than men, researchers don't have clear answers. But they do have
some theories.
?
The hormone progesterone is
linked with better sleep, and when progesterone dips just before menstruation,
women tend to sleep more poorly, said Shelby Harris, a clinical psychologist in
New York City who specializes in sleep disorders. Women often report sleep
difficulties during the time leading up to and after menopause, too, when
hormone levels change.
Compared with men, women also
tend to do more caregiving and housework, which could 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.
?
Sleep disorders like insomnia,
sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome become more common in women as they age.
Women with sleep apnea often go undiagnosed, because they aren't as likely as
men to have certain telltale symptoms like snoring or waking up gasping for
air, said Dr. Rachel Salas, a neurologist and sleep medicine specialist at
Johns Hopkins Medicine.
?
The length of time people sleep -
and the quality of that sleep - doesn't tell us anything about how much sleep
they should be getting. "Those aren't necessarily the same thing,"
Dr. Robbins said.
?
The National Sleep Foundation
says that adults generally need seven to 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 said.
?
Dr. Robbins added that it can be
helpful to track your sleep with a smartwatch or other tracking device to
ensure you're getting at least seven hours a night. But often, the best way to
tell if you're getting enough sleep is to gauge how you feel during the day. If
you're regularly exhausted, that could be a sign that you're not getting enough
sleep and could even have a sleep disorder.
?
"If you feel you get enough
sleep, but you're still tired or are having problems staying awake," Dr.
Salas said, "those are reasons to talk to your doctor."
?
Melinda Wenner Moyer
?
