Are There Any Sleep Differences Between a Mother and a Father?

Here’s a parenting riddle for you: who gets more sleep, a mother or a father?

Experienced parents often share their wisdom with first-timers saying that when you kiss your baby for the first time, you also kiss any hope of regular sleep goodbye.

Are there any sleep differences between moms and dads?

There’s scientific evidence of sleep differences between moms and dads which make women more susceptible to sleep interruptions.

Some of us might assume there’s some kind of primordial bond between a mother and her child that automatically wakes her when the child needs her. Meanwhile, dad snores away obliviously...

Is there more to it than that?

According to Sleep.org, men and women have different sleep patterns.

• Women need 20 minutes more sleep per night than men because they use more mental energy during the day and their brains require extra time to regenerate.
• Women’s circadian rhythms are actually 6 minutes shorter than their male counterparts, which makes them more likely to go to bed early and wake up earlier than men.

Combine all that with sleep disruption from menstrual cycles, pregnancies, and menopause. It’s no wonder women experience insomnia at a double to triple rate than men.

In fact, only 8% of men report any sleep interruption and report higher sleep satisfaction on the whole.

How can we balance the scale? It seems women’s sleep vulnerabilities don’t do them any favors when it comes to sharing the burden of childcare. Out of 1,000 people surveyed, women with children report the lowest quality of sleep satisfaction and the least amount of sleep. Only 13% of the moms would describe their sleep as restful compared to 46% of dads.

In other words, even if women sleep more, they’re more likely to have trouble falling asleep and experience interrupted sleep patterns.

You might also be interested in: Are you worse off sharing a bed with someone?

Balancing the scale of sleep differences...

… starts with creating the proper setting for a good night’s sleep. Here’s what we suggest:

1. Use the Swanwick Sleep Aroma Diffuser to diffuse essential oils with sedating and relaxing properties into the air. It will fill your bedroom with much-needed sleepy feeling.
2. Melatonin is a hormone the human body releases naturally to prepare itself for sleep.Swanwick Sleep Aid Supplement is a natural melatonin enhancer that will speed your body’s natural melatonin production and help ease into sleeping as soon as your head touches the pillow.
3. Turn off the lights and make sure they’ll stay that way with Swanwick Sleep Pure Silk Sleeping Mask. Light is a natural melatonin disrupter, but this sleep mask is a fool-proof light disrupter. Place the sleep mask over your eyes and enjoy 7-9 hours of pure interrupted sleep.

The sleep differences between men and women may never change, but they can be definitely be compensated for. Moms, let us help you even out the numbers with our tried-and-true sleep aids.

Need better sleep? Try Swanwick's Sound Blocking Ear Plugs now!