London - Women may struggle more with the effects of jet lag or night shifts than men, research suggests.
Both sexes saw their brain function impaired when their sleep was disrupted in a study – but the effects were greater in women.
Sixteen men and 18 women spent 28 hours inside without natural cycles of light and darkness at the University of Surrey. This disturbed their 24-hour body clock – the “circadian” clock, which manages the sleep-wake cycle – just as jet lag or a night shift would.
Every three hours, the participants were put through tests on their attention, motor control and memory. They also had to rate their own mood and how tired they felt.
In the self-assessments, both sexes said they felt affected. But the scientists’ tests found women had far greater cognitive impairment in early morning hours, which would coincide with a night shift, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.
Study co-author Dr Nayantara Santhi, a research fellow at the university, said: “We show for the first time that challenging the circadian clock affects the performance of men and women differently.”
Daily Mail