If you feel that your mother, wife or women employee is depressed, grumpy and nagging, read this article to find out the reason behind it, and you’ll see how some useful advice may change things for the better.

According to a recent study, conducted by researchers at the Duke University, sleep deprived women have more mental and physical consequences than man.

The study was researching man and women’s ability to deal with lack of sleep and how it interfered in their everyday life and health as well.

The clinical psychologist and also sleep expert Michael Breus claims: “We found that women had more depression, women had more anger, and women had more hostility early in the morning.” He also added that the inflammation markers in women deprived of sleep are higher and therefore lead to more health problems, such as: higher risk of heart disease, stroke, depression, psychological problems etc.

Why is it that women need more sleep than men?

When it comes to the answer of this question, we have to say that first of all there are many biological factors which are the reason that women need more sleep than men. Nevertheless, many scientists claim that it all comes to the mental energy expenditure and therefore women use their brain more than men do.  For men not to get offended, we have to add that it is women who tend to multi-task and do a lot of things all at once which is an extra burden for the brain and therefore it needs extra energy to function.

Yet another expert who confirms this for The Australian is the director of the Sleep Research Center at Loughborough University in England, Jim Horne, who says: “One of the major functions of sleep is to allow the brain to recover and repair itself. During deep sleep, the cortex — the part of the brain responsible for thought, memory, language and so on — disengages from the senses and goes into recovery mode. 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.”

As a follow up, which goes to men who use their brains more during the day, Horne says: “A man who has a complex job that involves a lot of decision-making and lateral thinking may also need more sleep than the average male — though probably still not as much as a woman.” 

How much hours of sleep do you need and what are the consequences of not getting enough sleep?

An average adult needs about 7 to 9 hours of sleep every day.  However, research shows that about 80% of the Americans do not fulfill these sleep requirements. Sleep deprivation has been linked to many health problems, and quite recently a study conducted by the researchers of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has linked poor sleep with accelerated skin aging.

So, once you are aware of all this, why not go to bed an hour earlier and wake up rested, more energized and healthy?