Sleep deprivation ? every parent with infants knows how it feels. Especially moms. I used to be a good sleeper ? until I had kids. Even after my twins started sleeping through, I continued to have problems falling asleep and sleeping through. Worse I became such a light sleeper that I woke at the slightest sound. The mom-is-always-on-call-complex is difficult to get rid of and I still have it 5 years after delivery.

A recent study shows that poor sleep seems to have more serious health consequences for women than for men. Women who are poor sleepers have higher risk of heart disease and diabetes compared to men with sleeping problems. This is based on a survey involving 210 healthy middle-aged women and men without any history of sleep disorders, who are non-smokers and not on daily medications. Blood samples from the participants were analyzed to determine the risk of diabetes and heart disease. The results showed that among men and women with similar sleeping problems, the risk profiles were dramatically different ? women have it worse.

And what is interesting is that it’s not so much the overall poor sleep quality that was associated with health risk, but rather the length of time it takes a person to fall asleep. It has been found that women who take half an hour or more to fall asleep showed the worst risk to heart disease and diabetes. It seems that poor quality sleep among women is due to distress, depression and anger, emotions which have also been linked to heart problems. Sleeping disorders among men, however, are due to different causes than these.

SOURCE:

MedicineNet, 21 March 2008.