If you’re one of those women who hits the snooze button while your boyfriend or husband is already up and at ‘em, here’s some validation for you. Science now says that women actually need more sleep than men to function properly.
A recent study from the National Institutes of Health in the US examined whether or not gender plays a role in the relationship between sleep and health.
Subjects were 210 healthy men and women without a history of sleep disorders, and researchers rated both their frequency of sleep and sleep-related symptoms.
Overall poor sleep quality, more frequent problems falling asleep and longer periods to fall asleep were associated with greater psychosocial distress, higher fasting insulin, fibrinogen and inflammatory biomarkers – but only for women.
In the study, men showed no increased risk of developing the ailments that affect women when they are sleep deprived.
So, what does this all mean? It means women who get more or less the same amount of sleep as men are at a higher risk for long-term health problems such as cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases.
But why? The researchers believe the reason women are more affected by poor sleep quality than men all comes down to the way our brains function, specifically the way tryptophan (an amino acid that helps us create key proteins), serotonin (the “happy hormone”) and melatonin (the “sleep” hormone) function differently in the male and female brains.
Ladies, now there’s a good excuse for sleeping in – do it for your health!
