Why women can’t sleep peacefully

'A woman will let a man snore away noisily, whereas a man will instantly wake a woman if she dares to make any noise.'

'A woman will let a man snore away noisily, whereas a man will instantly wake a woman if she dares to make any noise.'

Published Feb 10, 2014

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London - It seems the stresses and strains of the day do not end upon going to bed – if you’re female, that is.

A study has revealed that while women spend longer under the covers than men, they actually get less sleep.

And researchers suggest that the problems of juggling work and family life may by why they are left tossing and turning.

A Cambridge University study of almost 8 500 Britons revealed the average person gets up eight hours and 41 minutes after they turn in. However, nearly two hours of that is not spent in the land of nod – with just six hours and 53 minutes actually taken up by sleeping.

The average woman spends eight hours 47 minutes in bed – 15 minutes more than the typical male. But researcher Yue Leng said the women who took part in the study reported more broken sleep than the men. Their average sleep lasts six hours and 48 minutes – 11 minutes less than for the man of the house.

Miss Leng, a PhD student, said the stresses and strains of managing the work/life balance may leave women unable to sleep peacefully. It is also possible that if they are more stressed than the men, they simply underestimate how long they sleep.

Their extra 15 minutes in bed also isn’t necessarily spent trying to sleep. For instance, it may be that women are more likely to curl up in bed with a good book.

The study, published in the journal Sleep Medicine, also showed that single and married people sleep better than those who are widowed, separated or divorced. “It may be that they experience more worries that lead to sleepless nights,” said Miss Leng. “Also, sleeping alone in a double bed might exaggerate the feeling of loss and lead to disturbed “leep.’

Dr Neil Stanley, a sleep expert, said women may be more willing than men to sacrifice sleep for their other half.

“There’s the idea that the man is the breadwinner, he’s the one who fought woolly mammoths and all that sort of thing, and therefore his sleep needs to be preserved and a woman will forgo sleep for him.

“A woman will let a man snore away noisily, whereas a man will instantly wake a woman if she dares to make any noise.

“Women are also more prone to worry about all kinds of things – from whether they’ve got the kids’ clothes ready, to ‘will he still love me tomorrow’.”

The average bedtime was said to be 10.41pm on weekdays and 10.53pm at the weekend. During the week, alarm clocks go off at 7.17am – around half an hour earlier than on a weekend.

The importance of the study, which was part-funded by Cancer Research UK, was how it differentiated between time in bed and time spent asleep. Making this distinction is likely to be important when examining the effect of sleep on health.

With a lack of sleep linked to health issues ranging from heart disease, cancer and diabetes to memory loss, learning more about what makes a good night’s sleep could have major consequences for our health.

Previous research has shown that people who get less than six hours of sleep each night are more at risk of dying prematurely. - Daily Mail

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