It’s true that sleep needs can differ slightly from person to person, but do women need more sleep than men? The answer is complicated.
Research is mixed on whether women need more sleep, but it’s clear that sleep needs differ between women and men. While needs differ between sexes, women’s sleep needs can change over their lifetimes, and they’re more likely to develop certain sleep disorders, like insomnia.
Below, we’ll look at how much sleep women need, what might influence women's sleep needs, and what they can do to improve their sleep.
How Much Sleep Do Women Need?
In general, women need seven to nine hours of sleep per night, which is the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's recommendation for all healthy adults.
That said, depending on their phase of life and other factors like pregnancy, menopause, or sleep disorders, women may need more sleep (even some days up to nine hours) to recover from fragmented or poor-quality sleep. However, if you consistently need 9 or more hours of sleep to feel rested, you may want to discuss this with your doctor.
Do Women Need More Sleep?
Women may not necessarily have a biological need for more than the recommended seven to nine hours, but they typically experience more sleep disruptions that may necessitate sleep recovery. Research also shows that women may be more sensitive to sleep loss or sleep disruption than men.
It’s also worth noting that women have been historically excluded from sleep research, so experts are just beginning to understand how sleep is impacted by both biological sex and gender-specific lifestyle differences.
Do Women Sleep More Than Men?
Some research has shown that women sleep slightly more than men, but the difference is negligible, amounting to about 11 minutes in one study. The better question, then, might be whether sleep is more complicated for women than it is for men. The answer to that is yes.
Female sex hormones, like estrogen and progesterone, play a role in regulating the sleep-wake cycle. Fluctuating levels of these hormones during menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause can lead to a variety of sleep challenges. Women are also more likely to experience interrupted sleep due to caregiving responsibilities, chronic pain, and sleep disorders, which statistically impact women more than men.
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Why Women May Feel Like They Need More Sleep
Women may not need more sleep than men, but they often face sleep challenges that can make it feel as though they do. In fact, women are twice as likely as men to report not feeling rested.
It’s also important to consider quality in addition to quantity. Women are more likely to experience fragmented or interrupted sleep. Even if they get seven hours, women may not feel rested due to poor-quality sleep.
Hormonal Changes
From puberty through menopause, women experience a variety of hormonal changes that impact sleep. Not only do hormones interact with the sleep-wake cycle, but they also influence sleep architecture and mood changes.
Hormone levels fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle. The late luteal phase, right before a woman's period, is when sleep disturbances are most likely to occur. At that time, there’s a steep decline in progesterone and estrogen levels, blunted melatonin secretion, and a reduced response to melatonin.
In addition, a few days before the period is due to start, elevated core body temperature driven by progesterone shifts interferes with the body's natural cooling required for deep sleep.
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) can also make women less responsive to melatonin and lead to intense mood shifts that make it harder to sleep.
Pregnancy
Sleep can be especially difficult to come by during pregnancy, which is particularly challenging given how important sleep is during this phase of life.
Around 80% of pregnant people have trouble sleeping during their third trimester, but sleep disturbances are common throughout pregnancy. Hormonal fluctuations play a role, and sleep disorders like sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and insomnia are more common during pregnancy. Physical discomfort and symptoms like acid reflux can make it particularly difficult to achieve restful sleep.
Menopause
A woman is considered to be in menopause when she stops menstruating consistently for a full year, and this time in life is marked by fluctuating and an eventual drop in hormone levels. These hormonal changes mean that sleep disturbances are a major complaint of women in both perimenopause and menopause.
Due to changes in estrogen levels, hot flashes are common leading up to and during menopause and can wreak havoc on sleep quality. Progesterone, a sleep-promoting hormone, also drops during menopause, which can make it more difficult to fall asleep. Women also experience mood changes and higher rates of depression and anxiety during menopause, all of which negatively impact sleep.
Sleep Disorders
Women are at risk for certain sleep disorders that can make quality sleep a particular challenge.
- Insomnia: Women are 40% more likely to develop insomnia than men for three main reasons. First, hormonal shifts can impact the sleep-wake cycle and sleep quality. Secondly, societal gender inequality leads to women carrying the burden of more unpaid work — like household responsibilities and child-rearing — than their male counterparts. This means more stress, a major cause of insomnia. Finally, women are more likely to develop mental health disorders, like depression, that are linked to insomnia.
- Restless legs syndrome (RLS): Women also have higher rates of restless legs syndrome (RLS), a sleep disorder characterized by tingling in the legs and/or a sudden urge to move while resting. RLS makes it difficult to fall and stay asleep, and it becomes more common during perimenopause and menopause.
- Sleep apnea: Sleep apnea, in which a person’s breathing either stops or becomes shallow during sleep, is often thought of as a male disorder, but it also impacts women. Pregnant women and those in perimenopause or menopause are especially at risk of developing sleep apnea. Women’s sleep apnea symptoms tend to be different from men’s, meaning sleep apnea is underdiagnosed in women.
Caregiving
Even as gender roles shift, women still take on more household responsibilities than men, especially when it comes to child care. About 60% of adult caregivers are also women, and many women are engaged in “sandwich caregiving,” where they’re simultaneously responsible for children and aging parents.
Studies show that the most notable differences in sleep between men and women occur during these caregiving years. Women are more likely to wake during the night to care for children or elderly relatives.
This type of sleep interruption can impact sleep quality and quantity. Being woken up during the night results in less time spent in REM sleep, when the brain processes emotions and consolidates memories. Thus, interrupted sleep negatively affects both cognition and emotions.
Caregiving is also stressful and emotionally taxing. Female caregivers are more likely to have trouble falling asleep due to anxiety and rumination.
Tips for Improving Sleep for Women
Regardless of whether or not women actually need more sleep than men, more than a third of all adults don’t get enough sleep. There are steps you can take to get the rest you need.
- Listen to your body clock: Everyone has a chronotype, or times of day when they’re naturally alert and productive or sleepy and ready for bed. As much as possible, try to arrange your schedule around your natural tendencies so that you match your bedtime to when you’re actually tired.
- Practice good sleep hygiene: Sleep hygiene refers to habits and choices that affect sleep. Daytime choices might include exercising (but not close to bedtime), spending time in the sun, and avoiding caffeine in the afternoon. Bedtime choices might include creating a dark, quiet, and cool bedroom environment, going to bed at the same time every night, and having a relaxing wind-down routine.
- Share caregiving responsibilities: One of the biggest reasons why women might need to catch up on sleep more than men is because they wake during the night to care for children or elderly relatives. If possible, talk to your partner or other relatives about sharing these duties so you can get better-quality sleep.
- Care for your mental health: Mental health challenges, like anxiety and depression, are major contributors to insomnia. Talk to your doctor about options that can help, like therapy and/or medication.
- Talk to a sleep coach: If your children are keeping you awake at night outside the first six months of a baby’s life, seek the help of a sleep coach to help your child start sleeping through the night so you can too.
When to Talk to a Doctor
If your lack of sleep interferes with your daily life, it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor. Other signs to look out for include the following:
- You have trouble falling or staying asleep multiple nights per week.
- You or your bed partner notices snoring or breathing interruptions.
- You have an overwhelming urge to move your legs at night.
- You are frequently kept awake with symptoms of anxiety and/or depression.
