Do Men and Women Sleep Differently?

Well, you may have noticed that men and women often think differently so it’s probably no great surprise that they sleep differently too. Read on to discover the 6 ways men sleep differently from women, and why.

1. Women tend to get tired earlier than men.

You all know about your circadian rhythm, right? It’s basically the system that picks up on cues from the environment around you and tells your body when it’s time to go to sleep and wake up.  Well, it appears that women’s circadian rhythms are shorter than men’s and as a result, they will start to receive signals that it’s time for bed as much as two hours earlier than men.

2. Men tend to dream more than women.

Dreaming happens during the deepest phase of REM sleep. Your ability to fall asleep and stay there depends on a drop in body temperature at bedtime, and higher levels of the hormone progesterone in women at certain times actually cause a rise in body temperature - particularly at night. As a result, women are likely to achieve fewer hours of REM sleep and therefore dream less overall than men.

3. Women tend to need more sleep than men.

Nothing to get overly excited about ladies, but it has been found that women require about 20 more minutes of sleep each night than men do. There has been a whole load of coverage about this recently which would seem to confirm the theory that this is due to women’s ability to multitask during the day. Their brains require more regeneration time at night and therefore require more time to achieve that.

4. Men tend to wake later than women.

It follows that as women tend to fall asleep earlier than men they also tend to wake up earlier in the morning, by about 30 minutes on average. Women are also more likely to wake up before the alarm goes off. Remember, it's up to your circadian rhythm to keep your eyes closed until it’s time to get up but as women’s circadian rhythms are approximately two hours ahead of men's, women are also more alert earlier in the day. If you’re a woman who has found herself wide awake in the early hours whilst your partner is zonked out beside you, this could be why.

 5. Women tend to experience more sleep troubles than men. 

Whilst it’s true that men are more prone to sleep apnoea than women (a very serious condition in which a person stops breathing several times during the night), women are twice to three times as likely to have trouble falling asleep and staying there for long enough.

We all know that men’s and women’s brains seem to work a little differently. When analysed, in general, women’s brain cross-hemisphere connections appear to optimize intuitive and analytical thinking whilst men’s appear to optimize motor coordination. It would seem that it’s harder to switch off from the analytical/intuitive stuff at bedtime meaning that women are far more likely to continue thinking later into the night than men. And if you’re thinking, you’re not sleeping.

6. Men tend to be better at sleeping in.

Because men generally feel ready for bed later than women, their bodies tend to make up for the late nights by signalling that they need to sleep later in the morning.

Of course it’s hard to fall asleep and stay there whether you are a man or a woman, if your mattress isn’t in tip-top shape. Dormeo can help eliminate the most common causes of a lack of sleep but don’t just take our word for it. All our mattresses, whether from our bestselling Memory Range or from our luxury Octaspring range, are available in Single, Double, King and Super King sizes and come with our 15 year warranty and our 60 night Comfort Guarantee. We are that sure that you will experience the best sleep that, if you don’t agree within the 60 day trial period, we'll happily refund you the cost of the mattress with our ‘No Quibble Refund’. 

If you have any questions or queries, we are on hand any time to answer them, free, on 0800 625 0134.