Women And Sleep
Do women sleep less than men?
Curiously there was a UK national statistics office survey done a few years ago, and it was the largest, most controlled survey that anybody's done, and there it found that women were getting about ten minutes more sleep than men on average. On the whole, I don't think that's what's experienced by the majority of people. It raises a whole series of questions of why do women seem to get poorer sleep or less sleep than men.
Do women experience more sleeping problems?
Do sleep disorders affect women differently?
Again, one of the curiosities with sleep disorders is, and in the early days of sleep disorder work, it was often the case that women seemed to complain more about sleep problems. But when they were brought into the center, they wouldn't have them. Whereas men wouldn't complain, but when they were brought in for sleepiness, they would have these respiratory sleep disorders. So in fact, there is this big difference between respiratory sleep disorders across the two sexes. Men tend to be more overweight, and end up suffering from sleep apnoea. It's happening more with women. Also, women with progesterone, their hormone progesterone, that seems to protect them from sleep apnoea until the menopause. So it ends up with respiratory sleep disorders, men being dominant in that. Also, for reasons that are clear, REM behavior disorder is a condition which is still male dominant. I don't have any idea why that's the case. As far as women are concerned, we're talking about tiredness and fatigue and insomnia being the bigger problem. So there is a sex difference there.
Is there a difference between women pre and post menopause?
Post menopause, there is an increase in sleep apnea and sleep related respiratory related disorders.
Does the menstrual cycle affect sleep patterns?
Yes, the evidence in fact isn't huge, I think that's why I comment that some women aren't particularly aware of where they are in the cycle but some certainly become a lot more sleepy and have more problems around the time of the period.
Does pregnancy affect sleep patterns?
As far as pregnancy is concerned it depends on which trimester; whether you are early on in the pregnancy, in the middle of the pregnancy, or at the end of the pregnancy. By the time you are at the end of the pregnancy there tends to be a lot of sleep disturbance from the physical fact of the foetus being in place. There can be a period of sleep disturbance from the hormonal changes occurring at the beginning of the pregnancy as well. In a sleep disorder centre, one can actually get quite curious effects. So sometimes, some insomniac women actually start to sleep better during the pregnancy and can sleep well with the baby in their arms.
Can lack of sleep from a mother affect her unborn child?
We have no data on whether deliberately restricting sleep or conditioned sleeping impacting the well-being of the baby. The suspicion is not, in fact.
Can women develop sleep disorders during pregnancy?
There may be poor breathing during sleep. Certainly if somebody, if a woman is prone to suffering from sleep apnea or on the verge suffering from sleep apnea, not breathing properly during the night before pregnancy, it may be exasperated during the pregnancy. A lot of women will say their sleep remains permanently disturbed after having children, after pregnancy. But it's a real muddle of things there. Poor sleep developing because of having the child, not necessarily because of the pregnancy.
Can sleep disorders from the mother affect an unborn child?
If a family consists of poor sleepers quite often the children will be poor sleepers but partly because poor sleep habits have been learned by the children. So it's both biology and psychology and learning as well.
Are there any tips on how to sleep during pregnacy?
For the most part, what one would say is, if one's not sleeping well certainly not to do anything about it in terms of pills and things. It's much more of just trying to be as comfortable as possible, grab some sleep when you can. If one's not sleeping well during the first third of pregnancy certainly not to panic about it. The second third the sleeps likely to return and be better for a while before it gets disturbed again. In the third trimester of the pregnancy it's a question of trying to get comfortable and getting used to the idea that one's sleep isn't going to be great.
Does the menopause affect sleep?
The impact of the menopause on sleep may be simply a change in the hormones and the lack of them as one gets past the menopause. There is also that phase of women will suffer from hot flashes, and all kinds of physical difficulties associated with menopause, and that might disturb sleep itself or lead to poor sleep. Over and above that it leads to a reduction in progesterone which may reduce respiratory drive and impact not breathing properly.
How does HRT affect women's sleep?
If HRT is going to work at all presumably it's just replacing the hormonal levels that have ceased or changed and have dropped down in quantity. So it's a replacement therapy as it suggests.