TRIVIA - Why some women find good sleep tough to get

Why some women find good sleep tough to get

MONDAY, Sept. 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Some women have trouble staying asleep, and a new small study may shed light on why.

Women’s internal, or circadian, body clocks run at a faster pace than men’s, according to the research.

It’s as if women operate in a different “internal time zone,” said study lead author Dr. Diane Boivin, professor of psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal.”They go to bed at a later biological time because their clock is shifted earlier, eastward,” Boivin said.

The way women sleep throughout the 24-hour circadian day also outpaces men, the study showed. Boivin said these two findings explain why women’s sleep-wake cycle runs about two hours ahead of men.

Women are more likely than men to report insomnia at least a few days a week and experience daytime sleepiness, according to the National Sleep Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization. In the face of similar stressors, women are more likely than men to experience poor sleep as a result.

The researchers used what Boivin called a “cat-nap approach,” consisting of alternating one-hour waking episodes followed by hour-long nap opportunities. Lights were turned on, but very dim, when it was time to wake and turned off during sleep.

“What we’re doing is basically scheduling sleep opportunities at different times of day and allowing several days of observation,” she explained.

Women in the study scored lower on subjective measures of nighttime alertness compared with men. It may help explain why female shift workers have greater fatigue, sleepiness and risk for work-related injury, the study authors noted. The studies have shown women may be more susceptible to early morning awakenings, Boivin said.

Women who have trouble staying asleep should minimize factors in their sleep environment that could be disruptive and stick as much as possible to a consistent morning rise-time that aligns with their natural wake-up time.