Science Suggests Women Need More Sleep Compared to Men

November 23, 2016

Science has determined that women need more sleep than men because of their “complex” brains.

Professor Jim Horne of Loughborough University in England said that women who don’t get enough sleep tend to develop high stress levels and different kinds of negative emotions.

“For women, poor sleep is strongly associated with high levels of psychological distress and greater feelings of hostility, depression, and anger. These feelings were not associated with the same degree of sleep disruption in men,” Horne said.

According to Twenty Two, although most people only need about seven hours of sleep to function normally, women may need slightly more.

So why do women need more rest time compared to men? Horne said that in contrast to men, women tend to do a lot of multitasking, therefore they use their brains more strenuously. This also means that their brain will need more time to recover.

“One of the major functions of sleep is to allow the brain to recover and repair itself,” Horne added. “During deep sleep, the cortex — the part of the brain responsible for thought memory, language and so on – disengages from the senses and goes into recovery mode.”

In another report by Independent UK, Horne said that the more you use your brain during the day, the more time it needs to recover through sleep at night. On average, women need 20 minutes more sleep but this also varies depending on the woman’s activities.

However, he also mentioned that men who have jobs that involve decision making and lateral thinking will need more sleep compared to the average male.

So ladies, go ahead and take those extra minutes — you know you deserve it.

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