Women are more likely to complain about getting a poor night’s sleep despite actually getting a good amount of shut eye, a new study has found.
Researchers analysed data from nearly 500 people monitoring brain activity, breathing and movements during sleep – before asking participants their opinion on their night’s sleep.
The results, published in the journal Sleep Advances, reveal a clear pattern. On average, women rated their sleep quality as poorer than men, even though the objective measurements showed that they slept better
‘It’s a paradox, but we have found a possible explanation for why sleep quality is perceived so differently by men and women,’ says Dr Torbjörn Åkerstedt, professor emeritus at the department of clinical neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, in Sweden.
‘Our results suggest that men’s more positive view of their sleep may be partly due to them not perceiving or remembering short awakenings during the night as well as women do. However, we don’t yet know why that is.’
The research found that women estimated the number of times they woke up during the night much more accurately than men, who underestimated how often they had been awake.
On average, men spent less time awake each time they woke up. Men with short awakenings generally rated their sleep quality as good, whereas women generally rated their sleep quality as poorer, regardless of the duration of their awakenings.
The study also shows that differences in sleep between men and women become more pronounced with age.
The research found that women estimated the number of times they woke up during the night much more accurately than men, who underestimated how often they had been awake.
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At older ages, men experienced less deep sleep and more awakenings per hour, while women’s objective sleep deteriorated to a lesser extent but they continued to report poorer sleep quality than men.
The findings come as research from Simba, a mattress manufacturer, found that 69 per cent of Britons lie awake at night unable to switch off, with racing thoughts and restless minds preventing sleep.
The survey which quizzed 2,000 people found that 80 per cent of 16-24 year olds reporting trouble switching off at bed time, closely followed by 77 per cent of those aged 35-44.
The survey confirmed the findings from the latest trial, with women more likely to report a bad night’s sleep with 77 per cent experiencing sleepless nights compared to 62 per cent of men.
Stress, financial pressures, work demands and social anxieties are among the biggest drivers of poor sleep.
Getting a good night’s sleep is one of the basic foundations of a healthy life.
Previous research has showed that disrupted sleep raises the risk of inflammation and weight gain in the body, which could cause lifespan-limiting chronic conditions.
A lack of sleep could be quietly fuelling a rise in young people being diagnosed with cancer, experts have warned.
It has long been suggested that people who regularly struggle to sleep, known as insomniacs, are more likely to develop the disease than those who sleep well.
Sleep disorders are on the rise in the UK, with almost a fifth of adults not getting enough sleep. Around one in three adults in the UK – 16 million people – are thought to suffer from insomnia.
Frequent daytime naps have also been linked to heart disease, which raises the risk of a heart attack or stroke, and neurodegenerative disorders, which gradually rob sufferers of vital bodily functions.
