Women Watch Out: Poor Sleep Could Be Worse for You

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No more excuses, please. Seriously. A new study that just came out, which I read about in an online article from an industry magazine, is bad news for women who don't sleep well. I think it's bad news for all of us.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have discovered that poor sleep is linked to greater psychological distress (no surprise there) and higher levels of biomarkers that increase your risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes. No surprise there, either, because it's long been reported that sleep deprivation can have tremendous health consequences.

But here's the surprising part about the study. These associations are discriminating--they are much stronger in women than in men. So it's riskier to be a sleepless woman than a sleep-deprived man.

Women sleep worse and suffer more than men.

Research like this is trying to catch up to anecdotal evidence. Women are twice as likely as men to report problems with sleep, but most sleep studies in the past have focused on men.

I'm glad to see this changing as more studies with an equal focus on both sexes are performed, allowing us to really see differences between men and women. And no, I'm not trying to make this a competition between the sexes. I'm hoping that studies like this help us as doctors to target and treat sleep troubles better in the future.

The researchers here found that about 40 percent of the men and the women who participated in the study were classified as poor sleepers. These people have frequent problems falling asleep and staying asleep.

But while their sleep quality ratings were similar, men and women had dramatically different risk profiles. The women had greater feelings of hostility, depression, and anger. They also showed signs of being at a much higher risk for cardiovascular disease.

Blame your hormones.

The real question, though, is WHY are women more at risk? Why the difference? It could be a number of things, all of which will need to be examined in future studies.

The biggest reason of all is probably related to hormonal differences and substances in the body that affect mood, inflammation, insulin balance, and of course, sleep. Examples include the amino acid tryptophan and hormone melatonin that help regulate sleep, as well as serotonin in the brain, which is a cornerstone to mood. So I guess this gives women another shot at blaming their hormones.

But it's not out of your control, because with this news comes the obvious antidote: get restful sleep. Be healthier. (And thinner, sexier, and more energetic, too. That's a stronger selling point, I think!)

Now, for the men out there, this study does not give you permission to shun sleep. It's still dangerous to let yourself live off restless nights. And let's not forget that the women are likely to outlive us anyhow.

This article is cross-posted at Dr. Breus's Blog, The Insomnia Blog.