New publications
Women's bodies need more time to sleep
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Psychologists from Duke University (USA) have found that women need much more time to recover after a productive day than men. Based on this, scientists have concluded that women, in order to feel energetic, should devote more time to healthy and sound sleep. If a person does not get enough sleep, then the whole next day he will most likely feel exhausted, weak and will not be able to concentrate on important issues and problem solving.
And poor health is not the worst consequence. Poor sleep can lead women to heart disease, stroke, depression and even provoke diabetes. At the moment, experts are trying to figure out why lack of sleep mainly affects the health and cheerfulness of only women, but not men. An interesting fact is that men tolerate lack of sleep much easier and it does not affect their health. Of course, lack of sound sleep cannot have a good effect on the body, but lack of sleep does not pose any risks for the stronger sex.
Some doctors will explain the dependence of the female body on sound sleep by the fact that the female brain uses much more energy during the working day. Because of this, almost all women need long and regular rest. Daily eight-hour sleep is the ideal option for every woman to be able to return to a normal, alert state.
Read also: Sleep Disorder - Treatment
A leading specialist from the British Sleep Research Centre reported that women are more likely to multitask, which can leave them feeling very tired at the end of the day. Men, on the other hand, are used to dividing tasks into more and less important ones and doing them in turn. This approach is considered more prudent, since even if you end up doing less, your body will not be overtired.
Women become tired much earlier as a result of multitasking of the brain, which is why they need more time to recover and sleep soundly. Earlier, Scandinavian researchers found that women need almost twice as much time as men to fall asleep. Most women are subject to frequent stress, which adversely affects the quality of sleep and causes problems with falling asleep. According to statistics, every third European woman has difficulty falling asleep at least once a week. Doctors believe that women react more sharply to stressful situations, which can cause sleep disorders. Also, women wake up at night much more often.
If you analyze all the statistics provided by experts in the USA and Europe, you can see that women most often face sleep disorders. Women have a harder time falling asleep, they wake up more often in the middle of the night and they need more time to recover. Experts advise to deal with stressful situations, avoid overwork and monitor the daily routine. In any case, if you feel that the number of hours you allocate for daily sleep is not enough, pay attention to how you handle routine matters. Perhaps you should reconsider your attitude to problems or increase the time for rest.