Sleep quality, circadian rhythm and metabolism differ in women and men – new review reveals this could affect disease risk

By Sarah Chellappa, University of Southampton

Sleep is critical for our health and wellbeing. But with poor sleep becoming a growing problem around the world, it’s more important now than ever to understand what factors affect sleep quality.

Surprisingly, one factor that affects how well a person sleeps at night is their sex. Research shows sleep problems appear to be more common in women. Other studies have also shown women may be more affected by circadian rhythm disruptions (the almost 24-hour cycle that controls many of our body’s processes) compared to men.

But there’s still a lot we don’t know about how men and women might differ when it comes to sleep and the circadian rhythm – and what effect such differences may have on health.

This is what a new review conducted by myself and my colleagues sought to uncover. We revealed key differences in sleep quality and circadian rhythm function in men and women. We also found that these factors may affect metabolism, which could have long-term effects on a person’s health and risk of certain diseases.

Body clock differences

To conduct our review, we assessed around 150 articles, most of which were published in the last decade, that explored different aspects of sleep, circadian rhythms and metabolism, as well as a few studies on potential sex differences in relation to these aspects.

We revealed some key differences in how women and men sleep – finding variations in their circadian rhythms as well as the way their metabolism functions as a result.

We showed that women tend to report lower quality sleep compared to men. We also found that their quality of sleep tended to fluctuate more than men’s did.

Moreover, our review revealed women are up to 50% more likely than men to develop certain sleep disorders, such as restless leg syndrome. On the other hand, men are up to three times more likely to be diagnosed with sleep apnoea than women are.

Read Full Story https://theconversation.com/sleep-quality-circadian-rhythm-and-metabolism-differ-in-women-and-men-new-review-reveals-this-could-affect-disease-risk-227481