2024-02-25 04:20:00
Women rest worse than men. This is one of the main keys revealed by the social x-ray of sleep included in the February 40dB barometer. for EL PAÍS and Cadena SER. The study reveals that women sleep significantly worse at any age, from 18 years of age and older. Furthermore, this is not a phenomenon exclusive to Spain: in other countries, women also report having poorer quality of sleep. This is, therefore, a solid finding.
Women, however, do not sleep less than men. On average, they keep the same schedule…
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Women rest worse than men. This is one of the main keys revealed by the social x-ray of sleep included in the February 40dB barometer. for EL PAÍS and Cadena SER. The study reveals that women sleep significantly worse at any age, from 18 years of age and older. Furthermore, this is not a phenomenon exclusive to Spain: in other countries, women also report having poorer quality of sleep. This is, therefore, a solid finding.
Women, however, do not sleep less than men. On average, they keep the same schedule as them and sleep the same amount of hours from Monday to Friday, on weekends and on vacation. It is not a problem of quantity, therefore, but of quality: among women, 54% sleep regularly or poorly, while among men 40% do. In this same sense, the survey shows that they have more difficulty falling asleep and achieving deep sleep; In addition, they have more nighttime awakenings. Consequently, it is more difficult for women to get up and, among those who sleep poorly, it is they who find it more difficult to concentrate on their daily tasks and they are the ones who present more fatigue or alterations, both physically and in their mood. Thus, women are also the ones who reveal less satisfaction with life, since emotional well-being is closely linked to good sleep.
Why do they sleep worse? The study presented today leaves us with three clues. Among women with poor sleep quality, difficulties in getting a good rest are mainly associated with stress and worries, physical and mental problems, and greater use of technological devices before going to sleep. This largely coincides with the findings of international research, especially in the field of biomedicine, which point to two types of factors, biological and those related to sleep hygiene.
On the one hand, women sleep worse due to the hormonal (and, logically, psychological) variations that occur throughout the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and menopause. On the other hand, there is some evidence that women may be developing poorer sleep hygiene: specifically, they consume more caffeine and use their electronic devices more before bed. Thus, our survey reveals that women have less sex before bed (with themselves or with a partner) and read less, activities, according to experts, that induce sleep; On the other hand, they are more likely to be in front of a screen watching series, movies, programs or documentaries.
The lack of good rest among women is, without a doubt, a public health problem, as is their worse mental health (well documented in our studies and those of other research centers), a closely related phenomenon. Women are the main victims of the fatigue society described by the philosopher Byung-Chul Han. It is especially them who push their own body to the limit to achieve all goals with clear neuronal consequences, since they continue to carry too many backpacks (the work, self-care, care, home). And they are the ones who, consequently, make more use of antidepressants.
Ensuring women rest better should be a collective challenge. To achieve this, it is still essential to lighten the weight they carry, but also to dedicate more scientific resources to combat the lack of knowledge that exists around the biological stages of our lives: we do not know enough, for example, regarding the impact of menstruation and menopause on rest. In dreams, therefore, feminism is also needed.
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