In August we celebrate our women on National Women’s Day and what a privilege it is to be able to honour those strong women who fought so hard for women’s rights in the past.
As people, who are interested in sleep, (as we all should be as it is so important to our well-being) we thought it might be interesting to take a look at whether our women, who as multi-taskers and Mothers seem so much stronger than men, need more or less sleep.
Dispelling the myths
There are a couple of myths that say a) women generally sleep less than men and b) they can deal with it quite comfortably because they need less sleep. Research shows that quite to the contrary women actually sleep about 11 minutes longer than men when they are sleeping normally and that neither men nor women cope well with sleeping less than they need to.
If anything, because of the high demands and other physiological factors, women do need more sleep than men and here are a few reasons why…
Multitasking
Women may be very proud of the fact that they can multitask (whereas men are quite single-mindedly focussed) but it takes its toll on them as to multitask they need to use more of their brains during their waking hours, meaning that they need longer recovery periods at night.
Hormonal changes
Women are subject to significant hormonal changes throughout their lives. These happen with menstruation, pregnancy and menopause, all of which can affect their sleep quality and sleep time.
Anxiety and depression
Research has shown that women are also more prone to insomnia as a result of anxiety and depression, largely due to lifestyle pressures. These invariably lead to less and poorer quality of sleep, thereby increasing sleep needs.
Take heed, men!
A Sleep Research Centre study, which followed 210 middle-aged men and women found that women are more affected by a lack of sleep too! It says, “For women, poor sleep is strongly associated with high levels of psychological distress and greater feelings of hostility, depression, and anger.” So, guys try to help her to get more quality sleep – it could change your life!
The one thing that makes us all equal
There’s one area of sleep that equalises us all and that is that men and women all sleep better on a great mattress. If anything, women may even sleep a little better when it comes to a Truform mattress because they love to have the best of things in the home and with Truform they get the best postural support, comfort and most importantly in these tough economic times – great value. Gentlemen, you need only take her to test a Truform at a store near you and you may find she will be so happy she will nod off right there and then – and you know what they say – happy wife – happy life! Happy National Women’s Day to all our precious ladies!