At least a number of the sleep variations between women and men are regarded as a matter of biology. The hormonal shifts2 that ladies expertise by way of puberty, menstruation, being pregnant, and perimenopause are all recognized to affect sleep high quality.
There’s additionally a social factor at play. Generally talking, there’s an expectation placed on ladies to look after others—which might depart them with much less time to look after themselves. Jam-packed schedules depart us careworn, anxious, and overwhelmed come bedtime.
Afolabi-Brown notes that some medical sleep issues are additionally extra prevalent in ladies than males. Restless leg syndrome is certainly one of them, which could be associated to iron deficiencies3 which can be far more frequent amongst individuals who menstruate. Women are additionally as a lot as twice as more likely to have insomnia, fueled by anxiousness and neurodevelopmental variations like ADHD and autism spectrum dysfunction (additionally frequent and underdiagnosed in ladies).
Years of male-dominant diagnostic standards additionally imply that many ladies with sleep issues are slipping by way of the cracks. “Obstructive sleep apnea is usually missed in ladies,” Afolabi-Brown offers for instance, since so many individuals’s thought of a sleep apnea affected person is a middle-aged man who snores loudly, and is probably going chubby. In actuality, she says, ladies could be simply as more likely to develop it (particularly throughout being pregnant4), but it surely would possibly manifest as disrupted sleep, complications, and insomnia as an alternative of the hallmark loud night breathing.
Considering these societal pressures, physiological variations, and diagnostic gender biases, Afolabi-Brown says that “it is virtually as if the playing cards are stacked in opposition to us slightly; so much, truly.” After years of grin and bearing sleep deprivation herself, she dedicated to serving to ladies prioritize their sleep and get the therapy they want. (Pssst… she’s teaming up with seven different sleep specialists this weekend for a Women’s Sleep Summit; head right here to be taught extra particulars and register to attend reside or watch the recording.)