by Dr. Lorin Bradbury
Question: Do women need more sleep than men?
Answer: Though ideas have changed through the years as to exactly how much sleep is required to function efficiently, most sleep researchers agree that on the average people require seven to nine hours of sleep each night. As to whether women need more sleep than men, researchers agree that women do need more sleep than men. However, how much more sleep women need than men varies from 11 to 20 minutes more. Recent research by Loughborough University’s Clinical Sleep Research Unit found that women needed at least 20 more minutes of sleep than their male counterparts.
Though this is interesting information, probably more important than whether one gender needs more sleep than another, are sleep patterns. Going to bed at approximately the same time each night and getting up at approximately the same time each morning creates a rhythm that is important to feeling rested and being at your highest level of functioning.
Lorin L. Bradbury, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Bethel. For appointments, he can be reached at 543-3266. If you have questions that you would like Dr. Bradbury to answer in the Delta Discovery, please send them to The Delta Discovery, P.O. Box 1028, Bethel, AK 99559, or e-mail them to [email protected].
