'Elderly men sleep worse than women'

Many people find that it is harder to get a good night's sleep when they are older, mainly due to illnesses and aches and pains.

Statistics from Better Sleep show that 26 per cent of women report trouble sleeping at least once a week compared to only 16 per cent of men, however, a new healthcare study has shown that elderly men are more likely to get a worse night's sleep than women.

In addition, the research, conducted at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, suggested that women may actually have better sleep than they think.

Principal investigator Henning Tiemeier, associate professor of psychiatric epidemiology at the facility, analysed 956 participants between the ages of 59 and 79 years, 52.3 per cent of whom were women.

He told those with affordable health insurance that women reported less and poorer sleep than men on all of the subjective measures, including a 13.2 minute shorter total sleep time, before the study began.

However, professor Tiemeier found that women slept 16 minutes longer than men, had a 1.2 percent higher sleep efficiency and had less fragmented sleep.

"The difference between subjective and objective sleep quality arises not because women are more likely to be complainers, but because men strongly overestimate their sleep duration," he explained.

He added that subjects used an actigraph that is worn like a watch for an average of six consecutive nights and objectively measures sleep parameters, with subjective rest quality assessed with a diary and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

Professor Tiemeier said the sex differences in both self-reported and objective sleep measures may be explained by the fact that women may require more than men, meaning the same amount of sleep "may be satisfactory for men but not for women".

By James McCann

Find out about our Health Insurance Plans. 

Adfero Ltd provides live and tailored breaking industry news for Chartis Direct. All industry news is prepared by Adfero Ltd and as such does not represent the views or opinions of Chartis Direct a trading name of UNAT Direct Insurance Management Limited.

© Adfero Ltd 2008