Recent research has indicated that sleeping poorly may be associated with the biochemical markers found in chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, Type II diabetes and hypertension. Now we know that this may be more true for women than men.
What was the study?
The study subjects were 210 healthy men and women who had no history of sleep disorders. People reported how long it took to fall asleep, how well they slept and how long they slept. The findings indicate that overall poor sleep quality, frequent problems falling asleep and longer periods to fall asleep were associated with higher psychosocial distress, higher fasting insulin and inflammatory biomarkers, but only for the women in the study.
The authors don’t know why poor sleep is so strongly associated with abnormal metabolic values in women, only that it is.
What causes sleep disturbances?
Among the women in the study, sleep disturbances were more strongly associated with depression than in men. As well, there was a link between the frequency that women reported difficulty falling asleep and the frequency with which they reported greater levels of anger and severity of depressive symptoms.
As for the men, lower levels of perceived social support were significantly associated with poor sleep quality. But this was not a significant finding in women.
One of the limitations of previous studies exploring the relationship between sleep disturbances and health was that many of the studies were done on men and. Investigators failed to look at the effect of gender on poor health outcomes.
Why the difference?
One possible explanation for the results of the Duke study is that there are gender related differences in the actions of the neurotransmitters tryptophan, serotonin and melatonin. These hormones may affect sleep, sleep onset, mood regulation, inflammation, blood clot formation and insulin regulation.
The study suggests that sleep could be a modifiable risk factor for women and that interventions specifically targeted towards helping women achieve sound sleep quickly and regularly could ultimately improve not only the current quality of their life, but maybe even lengthen their life.
Mary Huddle is an advanced practice registered nurse at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula.
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