Health
Do women need more sleep than men? Here’s what experts think
Sleep is important for everyone – but do women require more than men?
This has been an ongoing discussion among researchers and medical experts, as they weigh the various biological factors that come into play.
Sleep expert Dr. Wendy Troxel, RAND Corporation senior behavioral specialist and a licensed clinical psychologist in Utah, said the idea that women need significantly more sleep than men is “often overstated.”
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Research has shown that the difference between men and women is “rather minimal,” as women only need about 11 to 13 more minutes of sleep, Troxel told Fox News Digital.
In addition to insomnia, women are more likely to experience other sleep disorders, like restless leg syndrome, which can compromise sleep quality. (iStock)
“This exaggeration can pressure women to focus on hitting a specific number of sleep hours, potentially at the expense of sleep quality,” she said.
“This is problematic, as women are already at twice the risk of having insomnia compared to men.”
Sleep medicine physician Dr. William Lu, medical director at Dreem Health in San Francisco, said women do tend to sleep more than men — about 10 to 20 more minutes per night, studies show.
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“However, we don’t know for certain if it is because women need more sleep or because men don’t sleep enough,” he told Fox News Digital.
“If the reason is that women need more sleep, hormones are very likely to play an important factor.”
‘Ultimate self-care’
Troxel said she considers sleep to be the “ultimate self-care for women, yet it’s often the first thing sacrificed amid life’s many demands.”
As women face about twice the risk of depression as men, it is especially important for them to maintain healthy sleep schedules to support their mental health and well-being, she noted.
It may be difficult for pregnant women to find a comfortable sleeping position, which can impact sleep quality, an expert said. (iStock)
“More broadly, quality sleep can support brain health, relationship health and overall physical health, including reducing the risk of heart disease,” the expert said.
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Proper sleep can also help women better manage stress, maintain a healthy weight and boost immune strength.
How much sleep is enough?
Sleep duration is “very dependent on the individual,” according to Lu.
“Get enough sleep that you feel rested and refreshed,” he advised. “Too many people focus on the specific amount of sleep needed and not about how they feel after waking up.”
“As a general rule of thumb, women can aim to get around 7.5 hours of sleep per night.”
Studies show that women tend to sleep up to 20 minutes more than men per day. (iStock)
Dr. Navya Mysore, medical director for the online health care platform Nurx, suggested that both men and women need about seven to nine hours of sleep per night.
“Too many people focus on the specific amount of sleep needed and not about how they feel after waking up.”
“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how much more sleep a woman may need compared to men, as there are so many factors that can influence the quality of sleep — like stress levels, sleep hygiene habits, exercise, diet and alcohol,” New York-based Mysore told Fox News Digital.
“If you have a better quality of sleep, you may need closer to seven hours per night versus a person with a poorer quality of sleep, who needs closer to nine hours,” she added.
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Troxel agreed that instead of just focusing on sleep duration, men and women should be encouraged to “optimize all aspects of sleep health.”
This includes duration, quality and consistent sleep-wake patterns throughout the week, she said.
Sleep challenges affecting women
Women face more frequent hormonal changes, which Troxel said can lead to fragmented sleep and a higher risk of insomnia, especially during menstrual cycles, pregnancy and menopause.
“Around 60% of women experience sleep disturbances during the menopausal transition, yet these symptoms often go untreated, which can have a significant negative impact on quality of life,” she said.
Lu added that in the weeks leading up to a woman’s period, she may feel increasingly tired and require more sleep.
A person with better sleep quality will require fewer hours of sleep per night, an expert noted. (iStock)
In the second half of the menstrual cycle (or the luteal phase), progesterone levels rise, which can make women feel sleepier and may lead to poorer quality of sleep, according to Mysore.
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Pregnancy can also cause sleep difficulties.
“Many [pregnant] women have a hard time falling or staying asleep, which can lead to them feeling more tired during the day,” Lu said.
“Effective non-drug treatments for insomnia are available, and it’s crucial to ensure these options are accessible to all women,” a sleep expert said. (iStock)
“There are also increased risks of obstructive sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome during pregnancy, which can factor into sleep quality.”
Symptoms of menopause, like hot flashes, can also cause sleep disruptions.
“Around 60% of women experience sleep disturbances during the menopausal transition, yet these symptoms often go untreated.”
Both experts added that women fulfilling traditional caregiving roles and societal expectations while working can also contribute to sleep disruptions and added stress.
Those experiencing consistent sleep challenges should see a medical provider for recommendations.
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A distraught mother who thought she was having a heart attack was instead hospitalized with broken heart syndrome — otherwise known as takotsubo syndrome (TTS) — less than a year after her veteran son tragically took his own life.
Dawn Turner, 57, of the U.K., lost her son in August of last year.
Just last month, the mom of three awoke with “unbearable” chest pains, she said — and called an ambulance, worried she was going into cardiac arrest. But when she arrived at the hospital, doctors told her she was suffering from the effects of grief caused by a broken heart, as news agency SWNS reported.
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TTS is a temporary, reversible heart condition often triggered by extreme emotional or physical stress, such as grief, fear or severe illness, according to experts.
Symptoms usually mimic a heart attack, with sudden and severe chest pain and shortness of breath the most common — and it primarily affects women over the age of 50.
A mom whose soldier son took his own life feared she was suffering cardiac arrest — only to be told by hospital doctors that she was feeling the effects of grief caused by a broken heart. Dawn Turner, mother of deceased soldier Rob Homans, is pictured above, April 2026. (SWNS)
Turner, of Eckington in Worcester, said, “I was [sitting] downstairs earlier that night and thought I had a bit of indigestion. I went to bed and just couldn’t get comfortable — I was breaking out in a sweat and had heart palpitations.
“Then, around midnight, I had pain down my arm and in my jaw. I was still putting it down to indigestion… My partner Paul asked me if I was all right, and I said, ‘I think I’m having a heart attack.’”
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She said she couldn’t catch her breath — “and my heart felt as though it was missing a beat and then [started] thudding again. For those moments, I truly believed I was having a heart attack.”
“Your heart is all over the place — there’s an extra beat,” Turner was told.
She said her partner called emergency services, and an ambulance arrived within five minutes.
“They came in and linked me up to an ECG. They said, ‘Your heart is all over the place — there’s an extra beat, and it’s all over the place,’” she said, as SWNS reported.
Turner was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.
Turner is shown with her son in full dress uniform. He worked as an artilleryman and spent 10 years in the U.K.’s Royal Horse Artillery after joining in 2006. He was battling mental health challenges after his military service, and ultimately took his own life. (SWNS)
In emergency care, Turner was also given blood tests.
She added, “They came back and said I didn’t have the enzymes produced from a heart attack in my blood. But they said there [was] something going on.”
After undergoing more tests and seeing a cardiologist, Turner was told she had takotsubo syndrome.
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“I told [the doctor] that my heart feels broken. I told her about [my son] Rob, and she said it’s exactly that. She said it’s a real thing, and that I’d been under so much stress. The body can only take so much, and the grief and the stress can be quite physical.”
Turner’s son committed suicide in August 2025 after struggling to get help with his mental health.
He spent 10 years in the Royal Horse Artillery after joining in 2006, when he worked as an artilleryman.
Turner’s son did two tours of duty in Afghanistan, she said. After he returned to civilian life, he began suffering from a number of health conditions. She’s shown above with a flower-draped memorial to her son. (SWNS)
He did two tours of duty in Afghanistan, she said, and returned to civilian life in 2016 before suffering several worsening health conditions.
Turner, who is also the CEO of a veterans charity called Stepway, “When he left the army, he got married, and they settled down in London. He walked straight into a job as a delivery driver. But then his health took a downward spiral, and he started having digestive troubles.”
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He was eventually told he had PTSD — but those symptoms may be similar to those of mild traumatic brain injury, Turner said.
“He was deaf in one ear from using the guns,” she said. “He realized he was putting so much pressure on his marriage, so he moved back up with me. He started to build himself up — then COVID hit.”
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Turner said there were unfortunate delays as her son tried to get access to various services and facilities.
“When people lose loved ones, you’re obviously distraught, but you eventually find closure,” she said, per SWNS. “I found peace when I lost my sister in 2015. But with Rob, I can’t find closure because there’s no justice there.”
“I had never really understood that a person could become so overwhelmed by stress and grief that it physically affects the heart,” said the grieving mom. “Broken heart syndrome can look and feel like a heart attack.” (iStock)
Turner is now on the mend and hopes to be fully recovered in a couple of weeks, SWNS reported.
“Until that moment, I had never really understood that a person could become so overwhelmed by stress and grief that it physically affects the heart,” she shared. “Broken heart syndrome can look and feel like a heart attack. It was a warning sign for me, and for anyone. It can change the shape of one of your heart chambers … it can cause some serious damage.”
She added, “The cardiologist told me that thankfully, my heart itself is healthy and there was no damage, but that it will take around two weeks to a month for my heart to reboot itself.”
“Maybe the extra [heart]beat is for Rob. You are carrying on living for him,” her partner told her.
Turner was told she needed to rest, seek counseling and make lifestyle changes to reduce stress.
“Things have settled down, and I’m taking things easy — I’m pacing myself now, and I feel a lot better. Paul said, ‘Maybe the extra beat is for Rob. You are carrying on living for him.’”
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Turner said, “That broke me and healed me a little bit all at once.”
Fox News Digital previously reported that broken heart syndrome, which causes the heart to temporarily weaken, has been linked to the brain’s reaction to stress, as studies have found.
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In an article published in the European Heart Journal in March 2019, Swiss researchers said they found that the syndrome is linked to the way the brain communicates with the heart.
Broken heart syndrome, which causes the heart to temporarily weaken, has been linked to the brain’s reaction to stress, studies have found. (iStock)
Caused by intense emotional events, TTS is a rare, temporary condition that weakens the left ventricle and disrupts its normal pumping function.
The syndrome causes the heart’s main pumping chamber to change shape and get larger. The heart muscle becomes weaker, and its pumping action loses strength.
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Symptoms include sudden, intense chest pain, pressure or heaviness in the chest, along with shortness of breath.
It is treated with beta blockers and blood-thinning medicine to reduce risks of clots and other flareups.
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Eating too much salt has long been linked to high blood pressure, but new research suggests it could trick the immune system into prematurely aging the blood vessels.
A preclinical study recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has identified a biological chain reaction that links a salty diet to cardiovascular decay.
Scientists at the University of South Alabama observed that mice on a high-salt diet experienced rapid deterioration in their blood vessel function.
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After just four weeks of high sodium intake, the small arteries responsible for regulating blood flow lost their ability to relax, according to a press release.
The team found that the cells lining these vessels had entered a state of cellular senescence, a form of premature cellular aging in which cells stop dividing and release a mix of inflammatory signals that can damage surrounding tissue.
Excess salt has long been linked to high blood pressure, but a new study goes deeper into its effects on the cardiovascular system. (iStock)
The researchers tried to replicate this damage by exposing blood vessel cells directly to salt in a laboratory dish, but the cells showed no harmful effects.
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This suggests that salt isn’t directly causing damage to the vascular lining but that the real culprit may be the body’s own defense mechanism, the researchers noted.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system to release a molecule called interleukin-16 (IL-16), which acts as a messenger that instructs blood vessel cells to grow old before their time, according to the study.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system to release a molecule called interleukin-16, which acts as a messenger that instructs blood vessel cells to grow old before their time, according to the study. (iStock)
Once these cells age, they fail to produce nitric oxide, the essential gas that tells arteries to dilate and stay flexible.
To test whether this process could be reversed, the team turned to a class of experimental drugs known as senolytics.
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Using a cancer medication called navitoclax, which selectively clears out aged and dysfunctional cells, the researchers were able to restore nearly normal blood vessel function in the salt-fed mice, the release stated.
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By removing the decaying cells created by the high-salt diet, the drug allowed the remaining healthy tissue to maintain its elasticity and respond correctly to blood flow demands.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system into stopping the cells from dividing, the study suggests. (iStock)
The study did have some limitations. The transition from mouse models to human treatment remains a significant hurdle, the team cautioned.
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Senolytic drugs like navitoclax are still being studied for safety, and the team emphasized that previous trials have shown mixed results regarding their impact on artery plaque.
Additionally, the researchers have not yet confirmed whether the same IL-16 pathway is the primary driver of vascular aging in humans.
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