They Say: Women Need More Sleep Than Men
Live Science has set out to remedy the gender discrepancy in research, with more clinical trials focusing on men than on women. Their handy slide show on 5 Myths About Women’s Bodies may not be sufficient to tip the balance toward gender equality in research, but it does point out some fascinating stuff.
Most of the myth busters center on reproductivity and sexuality: you CAN get pregnant when you have your period (dogged little sperm can wait as long as a week for an egg); menopause does not affect sex drive; with the exception of the tuberculosis drug rifampin, antibiotics do not lower the effectiveness of birth control; and doctors cannot tell if a woman is a virgin. I’m not entirely sure why Live Science felt the need to bust that last urban legend. Do doctors’ thoughts on their patients’ virginity really top the list of concerns about the female body?
In any case, the myth that I found the most interesting is that men and women need equal sleep; actually, sleep deprivation seems to affect women’s health more than men’s. According to a study of 6,000 participants, women who slept five or fewer hours a night were twice as likely to suffer from hypertension as women who slept seven or more hours. There was no corresponding relationship between sleep and hypertension for men. And a different study of 215 participants found that sleep deprivation not only raises women’s insulin and inflammation levels more than men’s, but it also causes women more psychological distress.
Sorry, fellas, but it looks like you may need to be on nighttime baby duty a little more often.
Photo: BBC
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Tags: baby, men, myths, sleep, women
3 Comments
pqbon commented on Jun 10 09 at 12:15 pmYou don’t see how busting a myth that Dr. can tell if a woman is a virgin could be important?
Here are two simple ways:
1) teenage girl sexual active but doesn’t want to go to the Dr. for any reason because she doesn’t want her family Dr. to know she is having sex. This could lead to neglecting her health in general and avoiding treatment for all other problems.2)There are still parts of the world where a womand is certified as a virgin before marriage.
ceecee commented on Jun 10 09 at 2:06 pmI totally agree w/ pqbon. It may seem antiquated or even silly to the average middle class, westernized white person, but not everyone sees virginity as something trivial. I was in the first camp - fearing that the gyn would say, “AHA. Well, young lady, let’s call your mother in now!” I did end up going, but I waited until freshman year in college when I could go to the campus clinic rather than going to my mom’s doctor.
ChiLaura commented on Jun 10 09 at 4:10 pmNo kidding, pqbon. I thought maybe that this post was written by a man, considering the “it’s so silly” attitude towards doctors being able to discern virginity. Don’t sometimes women’s lives or marriage prospects depend on what that doctor will say? Major issue, and it seems that even those loosely informed about women’s issues would know as much.
Besides that, though, the extra sleep thing is totally true for my husband and me. He seems to be fine with relatively little sleep, as long as he gets a “catch-up day” every once in a while, but if I go to bed late, guaranteed that I’m suffering the next day. I’ll be sure to remind him about this study when I want him to get up early with the boys!
