Having difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep? Or perhaps you wake up just as tired in the morning as when you went to bed, even though you had the requisite “eight hours of shut-eye.” There is a whole field of study of the disorder called insomnia. It deals with sleep disorders, and some do train their focus directly on the experiences that women may be having that come directly from the biology or psychology that differentiates between men and women.
An analysis published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information in 2006 reported that about 40% more women than men suffered from insomnia and that the trend of female predisposition was consistent and progressive across age, with more significance in the elderly. A more recent study reported in 2020 that the difference was even more significant, with 58% of women reporting greater problems in sleeping.
We will pick out in this article a few of the recognized conditions that may be causing sleep deficiencies in women. Hopefully, we can also illustrate what can be done to lessen the effects, if not to fully cure the problems.
Hormones
This is probably the single more prevalent cause of sleep disorders specifically for women. It is primarily because there are so many changes in a woman’s hormone levels throughout her life that simply are not mirrored as a man ages. In brief, a woman will typically experience daily, monthly, seasonal and age-related hormonal fluctuations from the start of puberty all the way through to old age. Each change can act as a trigger for sleep disorders. Starting at puberty, the levels of estrogen and progesterone in a pre-teen girls body rocket up and bring on her age of fertility. It usually begins around the age of eleven or twelve (although in recent years, puberty has been reported as starting earlier and earlier, with some girls getting their first period as early as seven.) After this, a woman’s body can be on a roller-coaster of hormonal changes for the next thirty or forty years. Along with each of these fluctuations, there can be a direct effect on sleep patterns. Women may be more likely to have sleep problems because they experience hormonal changes during certain times and events that are unique to their daily lives. According to the Office of Women’s Health, these include:- Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Women with PMS commonly report trouble sleeping. Nearly 7 in 10 women with PMDD say they have problems going to sleep and staying asleep in the days leading up to their period.
- Pregnancy, especially in the third trimester, when women may wake up more often than usual because of discomfort, leg cramps, or needing to use the bathroom.
- Perimenopause, when hot flashes and night sweats often can disturb sleep. Also, about half of women report problems sleeping after menopause.
