Take, for instance, Dr. Patrick Flynn, a British self-styled “hormone guru” and social media influencer. He says women need an extra one to two hours of sleep each day. He recommends that, in general, women aim for 8 to 10 hours of sleep, while men need about 7 to 8 hours. Flynn explains the difference as the result of hormonal fluctuations between men and women, saying a lack of sleep “causes more stress for the female body than for the male.”
Meanwhile, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that all adults aged 18 to 60 get at least seven hours of sleep per night, regardless of gender.
What do other researchers say about this?
A team of researchers from the University of Michigan analyzed minute-by-minute sleep data from working-age American adults. They used the National Time Use Survey conducted between 2003 and 2007.
They found that women slept about 11 minutes longer than men. The researchers attributed that gap to work and family responsibilities: women tend to spend more time on unpaid labor and caregiving. Women also wake up more frequently during the night than men, which may increase their need for extra sleep, the Daily Mail reported.
Meanwhile, a team from Loughborough University in the UK studied the sleep patterns of 210 middle-aged men and women and found that women need at least 20 minutes more sleep than men. The team suggested women require extra sleep because their brains work harder due to multitasking.
Professor Jim Horne, director of the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University, said, “The more your brain works during the day, the more time it needs to recover.”
Professor Horne added that “the female brain is structured more complexly than the male brain,” which is why women, on average, need about 20 minutes more sleep than men. The size of that gap can vary among different women, sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less.
Like Flynn, many researchers point to hormonal factors as a key influence on sleep differences. Australian physician Carmel Harrington says women may need more sleep because progesterone levels rise during the last two weeks of the menstrual cycle. She recommends sleeping at least half an hour longer than usual during that time.
