Why do women have a harder time sleeping than men?
According to US Department of Health and Human Services, insomnia is more common in women than men, and there’s a few reasons why. For all the ladies out there, here’s what you can blame for your restless nights.
1. Hormones
As you know, women have different levels of oestrogen and progesterone than men – and those levels fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle, which doctors believe can affect your ability to fall and stay asleep. “Oestrogen works on several different neurotransmitter pathways that may have an impact on the regulation of sleep, and progesterone can have a hypnotic property,” says Dr Dianne Augelli, a sleep expert at the Weill Cornell Center for Sleep Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian. “Fluctuations in these hormones may have an effect on the circadian rhythm.”
2. Menopause
The night sweats and hot flashes do make for uncomfortable sleeping, as well as the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnoea that significantly increases as women go through menopause. “Just like how women present with different heart-attack symptoms than men, women present with different symptoms of OSA than men. And insomnia can be one of those symptoms,” says Dr Augelli.
3. Stress
Stressing about not sleeping can make the problem worse. Dr Augelli says, “It’s true there’s sort of a snowball effect — there’s an initial insult and then there’s sort of a stress phenomenon that follows that. Concern and worry and hyper vigilance about not sleeping can perpetuate it.” Instead of stressing about how you’re going to function tomorrow, try different relaxation strategies that distract you from the fact you’re not sleeping. Get out of bed and do something relaxing that doesn’t involve a screen, like reading a book or listening to music.
4. Your partner
Michelle Drerup, a sleep psychologist and behavioural sleep medicine specialist at the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Centre, says that in most cases when one person has insomnia, their partner rarely does as well. It means one person is blissfully asleep while the other is lying awake, frustrated that they can’t get to sleep. If you have a partner that disrupts your sleep – like snoring, twitching, or sleepwalking – Drerup suggests sleeping in a different room for a week as a test. If you find yourself falling asleep, talk to your partner about getting treatment or consider making the room change permanent.
5. Bad sleep hygiene
The standard sleep-hygiene recommendations include sleeping at the same time every night, keeping the room dark and cool, not using devices before bed, and exercising, but not too close to bedtime.
Source: New York Magazine
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