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Women need more sleep than men because their brains are more complex… from a new study from England’s Loughborough University.

“For women, poor sleep is strongly associated with high levels of psychological distress and greater feelings of hostility, depression, and anger,” professor Jim Horne stated, “In contrast, these feelings were not associated with the same degree of sleep disruption in men.”

“Women’s brains are wired differently from men’s and are more complex, so their sleep need will be slightly greater,” he said. “The more of your brain you use during the day, the more of it that needs to recover and, consequently, the more sleep you need.”  ~metro.co.uk

Women need more sleep than men, says a new study

Do you get 7-9 hours of sleep every night?  Most people don’t.

40% of American’s don’t get enough sleep.   In fact, Americans sleep an average of one hour less than they did in the 1940s.

According to a Gallup.com poll: “Currently, 59% of U.S. adults meet that standard, but in 1942, 84% did. That means four in 10 Americans get less than the recommended amount of nightly sleep, compared with the 11% who did so 70 years ago.

Regardless of what the experts recommend and the number of hours of sleep people actually get, 56% of Americans say they get as much sleep as needed, while 43% say they would feel better if they got more sleep.”

A woman lying on her back in bed with her hands over her face as a man lays on his side looking at her with text above both of them.

It shows on your face: 

A new study reveals that the faces of sleep-deprived individuals were perceived as having more hanging eyelids, redder eyes, more swollen eyes and darker circles under the eyes.

Sleep deprivation also was associated with paler skin, more wrinkles or fine lines, and more droopy corners of the mouth. People also looked sadder when sleep-deprived than after normal sleep, and sadness was related to looking fatigued. ~ScienceDaily.com Looks like Beauty Sleep is a real thing after all.

Lack of sleep = Decline in your health: 

Without enough sleep, you are hungrier and apt to eat more. The reason is that we fill ourselves with high-calorie foods and sweets, trying to get that “burst of energy”.

You are more likely to get into an accident. “Getting six or fewer hours of shut-eye a night triples your risk of drowsy driving-related accidents, according to the National Sleep Foundation’s Drowsydriving.org.

Plus, just one bad night’s sleep can affect a driver’s eye-steering coordination, according to research from Manchester Metropolitan University. And sleep deprivation can just make you generally more clumsy, whether you’re behind the wheel or not, reports Prevention.” ~ Huffington Post

You may get sick more often without enough sleep. Carnegie Mellon University found that with less than 7 hours of sleep, your chance of getting cold bumps up three times the amount of those getting enough sleep.

Less Focused – Memory Issues have been related to sleep due to exhaustion. I can understand that. When you are tired, it is very hard to stay focused.

More Emotional – We make poor decisions when we are tired. It makes you lose your focus and you can become more forgetful.

Increased risk of death: Yes, on top of an increased risk of cancer, diabetes, strokes and heart disease, another risk is death. Studies found that men with chronic sleep deprivation had a much higher risk of early death.

All in all, the truth of the matter is that we need to be getting more sleep than we are getting. We focus so much on our children getting the sleep that they need and the rest that they should have, but we forget about ourselves.

It’s time to make time for rest…

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Hi there!

I’m Becky, a former elementary school teacher turned certified child development therapist and blogger. I work at home with my husband and together we are raising (and partially homeschooling) our four children in the Carolinas. I love diet coke, ice cream, and spending time with my family.

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