regular sleep-wake-cycle Archive - Simply Healthy Sleep - The online-magazine for your perfect sleep experience - Powered by SAMINA

Simply Healthy Sleep - The online-magazine for your perfect sleep experience - Powered by SAMINA

Das Online-Magazin für den perfekten Schlaf.

regular sleep-wake-cycle

Why women need more sleep than men

von Leave a Comment

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.

Sleep and pain are interacting

von Leave a Comment

80% of all people suffering under chronical pain are also extremely suffering under sleep disturbances. In general, lack of sleep causes manifold restrictions and health burdens. And has a deep impact on pain. The worse a pain patient sleeps the more severe he is feeling his pain.

According to Prof. Dr. Pieh, Danube University of Krems, Austria, there are studies that show that patients who slept bad before operation had more pain after operation than patients who had a good sleep before operation. Using the example migraine, the neurologist and sleep medical specialist Senvja Happe, clinic “Maria Frieden”, Germany, explains the connection with sleep. Here, the importance of a regular sleep-wake-cycle is clearly visible: often attacks of migraine arise on a weekend. The fact, that the personal rhythm often is disturbed by late getting-up-times is playing an essential role.

When taking a look at the single phases of sleep an interaction of pain and sleep becomes visible, too. Migraine often arises during REM-sleep. EEG recordings showed that after an attack of migraine a shortened phase of REM-sleep is following. At the end of such an attack a phase of deep sleep is following. It is a known fact that deep sleep is especially important for physical recovery and for healing processes. On the other hand, deep sleep shortage leads to a rise of pain sensitivity and is lowering the pain threshold. The conclusion is obvious: sufficient deep sleep definitely has a therapeutic effect.

According to Prof. Dr. Aigner, University Hospital Tulln, Austria, the same brain-regions are involved in sleep stabilization and in development of pain. The same applies for different transmitters, like for example acetylcholine. This transmitter is not only responsible for triggering REM-sleep and for promoting wakefulness but it is also released in the case of an injury and is absorbed by pain-transmitting receptors. Or endogenous opioids: they are promoting deep sleep and analgesic at the same time.

Sleeping pills and analgesics often contain substances that negatively influence different sleeping phases. But, each sleeping phase is influencing our physical and mental recovery and therewith is essential for our health, our well-being and our performance. Out of this reason, it is important – especially for pain patients – to find solutions that enhance healthy sleep and prevent sleep disturbances.

Image Source: ©scx