7 to 9 hours of sleep is generally recommended for all adults
The sleeping pattern changes throughout a person’s lifetime. However, 7 to 9 hours of sleep is generally recommended for adults. But, have you ever wondered if there is a gender bias to this? Whether women need more sleep than men or vice versa? As per a study published on the USA’s National Library of Medicine’s website, women sleep longer than men, 11 minutes to be specific. What are the reasons behind it? Also, since sleep deprivation can be detrimental to health, what are the ways to get sound sleep? We’ll look at these one by one.
As per research, women need more sleep than men. There can be multiple reasons behind it:
Women are at 40% higher risk of developing insomnia than men, as per a 2014 study. It could be one of the reasons for women catching up on a few minutes of extra sleep. They are also more prone to sleep apnea. During pregnancy, they also experience restless leg syndrome, which could explain the few more minutes of sleep.
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Throughout their lives, women undergo hormonal changes several times
Also, the responsibility of caregiving falls disproportionately on women as compared to men. They tend to wake up to take care of the child or a family member. It could be another reason for them catching up on 11 minutes of extra sleep.
Research suggests that women are more likely to nap than men. It might make the extra sleeping time inference misleading as this doesn’t add up to night’s sleep. Also, due to napping during the day, the nighttime sleep gets less restful. However, studies into gender differences in sleeping time have called for more research into this topic.
Also read: How Getting More Sunlight Can Help You With Better Sleep
The amount of sleep a person needs depends on his/her age. A newly born infant sleeps for over 14 hours a day, but this gradually decreases as the person ages. Kids also tend to sleep for more than nine hours. For adults, it’s generally recommended that they should get somewhere between seven to nine hours of sleep. This further reduces as the person ages.
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Along with the hours, the quality of sleep is also crucial. Although some of the factors, such as medical issues, might be beyond your control. However, there are some of the things that you can do to get a restful and sound sleep.
Having proper sleep is one of the pillars of a good lifestyle. And your lifestyle determines your health as well as the quality of your life. Hence, follow the above-mentioned tips and catch up on some zzz.
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