Why women need more sleep than men

During daytime, women use their brain more often than men – a conclusion of sleeping expert Prof. Jim Horne, sleep research center of the Loughborough University, Leicestershire.

Multitasking is demanding brain

According to Horne, women use multitasking more often, meaning they do different things at the same time. To be able to do so, their brain is more used than the male one. Out of this reason, women need 20 minutes more sleep.

Sufficient sleep allows brain and body to regenerate properly. On an average, the adult sleep need is from six to eight hours. But, besides sleeping quantity, sleeping quality is important as well. During the day you should feel rested and fit instead of tired and listless.

Female brain is aging slower

The different sleeping need of women and men could be a possible explanation why the female brain is aging slower than the male one, states Prof. Horne. Or – the other way round – it might be possible that the female brain is better rested because they give in in their enhanced sleeping need.

Women are sleepless more often

According to a study of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine women suffer from a lack of sleep more often than men. There are several reasons for this: first, women have a lighter sleep and hence get disturbed more easily. Due to the changing hormonal balance, pregnancy, menopause or menstruation-cycle their sleep might be negatively influenced. The effects of insufficient sleep are manifold: lack of concentration, weight gain, drop in performance, diseases, exhaustion and tiredness, just to mention some of them.

A study of the British University of Surrey tested the sleeping-through-behavior of women compared to the male one. Here, the scientists noted that women need more time to fall asleep after waking up in the night then men. Furthermore, 18 % of women reported about at least five nights of bad sleep. However, only 8 % of men reported the same.

But, one applies for all: to achieve a healthy restful sleep, an optimal sleep surrounding as well as a regular sleep-wake-cycle are essential.

This post is also available in / Diesen Beitrag gibt es auch in: German