They say you're never dealt more than you can handle, and apparently, according to science, for women that's precisely two hours less sleep than our male counterparts. Yes, it's just another reason we're f**king awesome. But also, uh, we want those two hours back. If anyone can appreciate the fruits of beauty sleep, it's us. And the worst part is we only have ourselves, or rather our biological clocks, to blame.
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that our shut-eye is suffering because of our circadian rhythm, AKA the biological clock that controls our 24-hour sleeping patterns, because it's two hours ahead of men's. And here we were thinking it's because we only make 80 cents on the dollar...
Women's body clocks cause them to fall asleep and wake up earlier than men.
Diane B. Boivin
The study, conducted by Canadian scientists at McGill University, followed a group of 15 men and 11 women for 36 hours, analyzing their sleeping patterns, alertness, and levels of melatonin. Ultimately, they found that women get tired earlier, but still go to bed later in our circadian cycles. In turn, we have more trouble falling and staying asleep.
"For a similar sleep schedule, we find that women's body clocks cause them to fall asleep and wake up earlier than men," explained the study's author Diane B. Boivin. "The reason is simple: Their body clock is shifted to a more easterly time zone. This observed difference between the sexes is essential for understanding why women are more prone to disturbed sleep than men."
The way we look at it, this is either an incentive to go to bed earlier (ha, we know) or make the sleep—if you can even call it that—we *do* get count.
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