Medical expert of the article
New publications
Women are at greater risk of developing heart disease from lack of sleep than men
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If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Almost everyone knows that lack of sleep is very harmful to health. But recently, scientists have found that men and women tolerate sleep deficit differently. Joint research by American and Canadian scientists has determined that lack of sleep is especially dangerous for the fair half of humanity.
During the research, scientists analyzed the condition of over two hundred people, both men and women of middle age. Previously, none of the volunteer participants in the experiment had serious health problems. Specialists noted that 40% of people had difficulty falling asleep, it took them about 30 minutes to fall asleep. People from this category woke up more often at night. After all the observations, scientists came to the conclusion that sleep disorders are more dangerous for women, since in this case the risk of cardiovascular diseases, as well as the development of type 2 diabetes, increases significantly.
Sleep is the basis of health; after a good rest, the body is restored and gains new strength, noted Charles Samuel, director of the Centre for the Study of Dreams and Human Behavior, which is located at the University of Calgary.
Recently, scientists have become increasingly concerned about the lack of adequate night rest in most modern people. Doctors are sure that it is precisely in the lack of sleep that we should look for the causes of various disorders and diseases. Constant lack of sleep causes excess weight, memory impairment - this has already been proven earlier.
Scientists from Britain have found that systematic lack of sleep can affect human genes. Experts suggest that the development of some diseases occurs precisely because of gene damage. The research is currently only at the first stage; 26 people took part in the study. During the experiment, the participants were not allowed to sleep more than six hours a day. After that, the state of the genes of all participants was checked. After careful study, it turned out that gene damage does indeed occur.
One week of sleep deprivation led to disruption in seven hundred genes. The greatest changes occurred in the genes responsible for the body's susceptibility to stress. In addition, there were failures in the genes that regulate the body's biological clock, control human biorhythms, and form the human immune defense. In general, with sleep deprivation, the genes that participate in the most important processes of human life suffer first, resulting in cardiac dysfunction, rapid weight gain, frequent depressive states, and severe fatigue even with minor loads.
British specialists intend to increase the number of participants for further experiments, but they have no doubt that all further studies will only confirm the results already obtained. Specialists recommend sleeping about 7-8 hours a day, but no more, because too much sleep also has a negative effect on human health.