I have good news for you if you're the type of person who is always told they sleep too much. Contrary to popular belief, women actually require more sleep than men.
Why do women require more sleep than men?
Everyone has different sleep demands, and those needs can fluctuate significantly over the course of a lifetime. Women, according to the research, not only require more sleep than males, but also suffer more severely from sleep deprivation. Every day, women require an additional twenty minutes of high-quality sleep compared to men. Loughborough University's Sleep Research Centre director, Professor Jim Horne, explains this to the Daily Mail.
Hormones and core body temperature are the two main factors that determine how much sleep a woman needs. As part of the hormonal shifts that occur during a woman's menstrual cycle, her body temperature rises when progesterone levels are high. During that time, women's bodies are more vulnerable to chilly temperatures. Because of this sensitivity, the body is unable to make enough of the sleep hormone melatonin, which leads to worse sleep quality and less sleep overall.
Additionally, there are indicators that stress affects women differently than men.The stress hormone cortisol is responsible for disrupting normal sleep patterns since it causes an increase in its production.
intelligent women are more likely to sleep more - The fact that women often juggle multiple tasks at once during the day, requiring them to employ more of their cognitive power, is another possible important aspect. Therefore, the restorative benefits of deep sleep are especially important for women's brains. In general, women have a harder time settling back to sleep after waking up more frequently and sleep lighter than males, according to research.
additional source: The National Sleep Foundation and the Daily Mail