Khaberni -Despite the widespread videos and posts on platforms like "TikTok" and "Instagram" that claim women need an extra hour or two of sleep compared to men, recent scientific studies reveal that the issue of sleep between genders is more complicated than assumed.
The matter is subject to the influence of complex biological, psychological, and social interactions, in addition to the difference in methods of measuring sleep which play a principal role in understanding these differences.
Research indicates there are two main methods for studying sleep; the first relies on self-reported questionnaires where people are asked to estimate their hours of sleep, a method that lacks accuracy because most people do not correctly calculate their sleep. The second method is more scientific, relying on sleep tracking devices or sleep polysomnography tests in laboratories, whereby measurements of brain waves, breathing, and body movements during sleep are taken to provide more objective results.
According to the data derived from these precise methods, it turns out that women actually sleep more than men, but with an average difference of only about 20 minutes. This is confirmed by a global study involving about 70,000 people using sleep tracking devices, showing a slight but consistent difference between genders across different ages, with the difference in the forties age group ranging between 23 and 29 minutes in favor of women.
In another study based on sleep polysomnography, it was found that women spend more time in deep sleep compared to men, which is the most important stage for physical energy renewal. Meanwhile, the sleep quality in men declines with age, although this was not as evident in women.
However, these results don't necessarily mean that every woman needs an additional 20 minutes of sleep daily, as sleep needs vary among individuals just as heights and weights vary, which is similar to saying that on average, women are shorter than men, with many exceptions to this measure.
Interestingly, despite women sleeping for longer periods and experiencing deeper sleep stages, they suffer more from sleep quality issues than men, with a 40% higher likelihood of experiencing insomnia. This contradiction between laboratory data and real-world experience raises fundamental questions, as laboratory studies usually exclude factors affecting everyday life such as stress, responsibilities, and hormones, which play a crucial role in affecting women's sleep.
The biological differences are more evident during different life stages; as sleep disorders begin to manifest differently between genders from puberty, increase during pregnancy and postpartum periods, and peak during the period leading up to menopause. These differences are attributed to changes in female hormone levels, especially estrogen and progesterone, where many women suffer from interrupted sleep prior to menstruation due to the drop in these hormones, and the decrease in estrogen in the pre-menopausal phase is associated with frequent awakenings during the night.
The reasons are not limited to hormonal factors alone; common health conditions in women, such as thyroid disorders and iron deficiency, play an additional role in negatively affecting sleep quality. Psychologically, women are more susceptible to depression and anxiety, which are among the leading causes of chronic insomnia. Additionally, the ruminative thinking nature—focused continuously on the causes of distress without seeking solutions—more prevalent among women, contributes to the difficulty in falling asleep.
Socially, women bear a greater burden in caregiving responsibilities and unpaid domestic work, reducing their opportunities for rest during the day. In this context, nighttime sleep becomes the only chance for physical and psychological rest for many of them, thereby increasing the psychological pressure associated with the sleep process itself.
In practical medical reality, women's complaints related to tiredness are not always due to a quantitative lack of sleep, as they may be linked to a combination of accumulated psychological stress or underlying health issues such as anemia, or even affected by societal expectations that push them to try to succeed in multiple roles such as motherhood, marital life, and professional work simultaneously.
Although studies indicate that women need slightly longer sleep periods compared to men, the more crucial factor is the emphasis that sleep quality is just as important as its duration. Therefore, providing social support, improving physical and mental health services for women, and redistributing household duties more equitably are essential factors for improving their sleep ability and overall health. Good sleep is not a luxury but a basic necessity for all humans, men and women alike, and although achieving it seems more complicated for women in the context of our contemporary societies.
