You may have come across posts on social media claiming that women need more sleep than men for various reasons, such as hormonal differences or a more demanding daily life. In an attempt to verify this theory, I searched for modern studies that have studied the phenomenon and found that there were no relevant findings. To be precise…
The same finding seems to have been made by the New York Times1, which, in its mission to unravel the mystery, spoke to scientists who specialize in sleep and sleep disorders. According to the relevant article, no definitive biological reasons have been found for why women need more sleep, even though they spend a few more minutes in bed on average than men. Research has shown that women generally have worse sleep quality even when they are not responsible for caring for someone else, e.g. an infant.
More specifically, it has been found that women are almost twice as likely as men to feel that they wake up feeling rested rarely, if ever. Other scientists link the phenomenon to progesterone levels, which are responsible for better sleep quality. Thus, as this hormone decreases before menstruation, women tend to sleep worse. The same happens in the period preceding menopause as well as after it when there are hormonal fluctuations.
As is well known, stress and anxiety contribute significantly to sleep disorders as the person has more difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep for several hours. Since, therefore, compared to men, women tend to have more obligations related to caring for others and the household, which tend to affect stress levels, it is expected that they also make it difficult for them to sleep quality.
The National Sleep Foundation says there is no set number of hours a person should sleep, but they generally recommend between 7 and 9 hours a day. The exact number of hours can vary from person to person. However, if you feel constantly exhausted, you may not be getting enough sleep or even have a sleep disorder. To find out, you can use apps that track your sleep and make sure you are getting at least 7 hours of sleep every night.
Appendix
1 New York Times, “Do women need more sleep than men?”
