Get Yours ZZZZs!

by Molly M. Ginty

Whatever stage of life you’re in, and whether you’re physically fit or living with chronic illness, you can find ways to be a wise steward of your health and well-being. Our health and wholeness are important keys to responding to God’s call for us and acting boldly on that call. That’s why Women of the ELCA have embarked on a new health initiative: Raising up Healthy Women and Girls. This ongoing column represents our commitment to the issue of women’s health.

All HarJinder Sandhu wanted was more time with her children. To enjoy more daytime hours with them, this 39-year-old nurse and mother of three worked nights at a convalescent center near her home in Stanton, California. Finishing her shift at dawn, she was sometimes too tired to drive home and asked her husband to pick her up after work.

But one September morning in 2004, Sandhu braved the trip alone. She fell asleep while driving, veered into a light pole, and was killed instantly.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Sandhu’s accident is one of more than 100,000 caused annually by drivers who fall asleep at the wheel.

Some 45 percent of U.S. women have made the mistake of driving while drowsy, according to the Better Sleep Council, which has declared May "Better Sleep Month" in an effort to help exhausted Americans get the rest they need.

Experts say women are at especially high risk for health problems stemming from lost sleep. According to the National Institutes of Health, 40 percent of American women have occasional difficulty sleeping, and 15 percent suffer from insomnia. While studies show that women average eight to 13 more minutes of sleep per night than men, they also show the quality of women’s sleep is much poorer.

A 2002 poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that women are 15 percent more likely to have insomnia and 50 percent more likely to suffer daytime sleepiness than men. And a 2004 poll by the Better Sleep Council showed women are 60 percent more likely to have difficulty sleeping at least once a week.

Health experts say that both biological and sociological factors may be to blame for women’s sleep troubles.

During menstruation, reports the National Sleep Foundation, a significant number of women have difficulty sleeping due to tender breasts (36 percent), headaches (28 percent) and cramps (28 percent). During pregnancy, nearly 80 percent of women have sleep problems. And during menopause, 40 percent have interrupted sleep, most frequently due to hot flashes.

"In many of these cases, the problem is tied to hormonal fluctuations," says Dr. Joyce Walsleben, former director of the New York University Sleep Disorders Center. "Decreases in estrogen and progesterone before the menstrual cycle can cause sleep deprivation. And after menopause, the drop in estrogen can have the same effect."

Researchers say women may also suffer from sleep disturbances because child rearing has programmed them to doze lightly.

A 2003 study by Penn State College of Medicine showed women function better without sleep than men; this is possibly their way of adapting to the "profound demands of infant and child care placed on them for most of mankind’s history." A 2002 study by Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found that a baby’s cries wake a woman sooner than a man.

On top of these physical differences come psychological ones.

Women tend to take more responsibility for household issues than men, sociologists say. In a recent Better Sleep Council survey, women said the most important factor that kept them up nights was family worries.

Women also earn 76 cents to the dollar com pared to men, reports the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. In the recent sleep survey, women’s second most important reason for losing sleep was worry over finances.

Regardless of the reasons why women are losing so much sleep, sleep experts say it’s dangerous to continue averaging six and a half hours per night — significantly less than the eight hours doctors recommend.

Studies show that short-term sleep deprivation can lower a woman’s glucose tolerance, increase her blood pressure, and interfere with her ability to concentrate. Long-term sleep deprivation can boost her risk for coronary heart disease, obesity, and depression.

During Better Sleep Month, health advocates urge women to get regular exercise, quit smoking, reduce alcohol and caffeine intake, and follow other tips that will help them sleep more soundly.

"Establish a regular, relaxing bedtime routine such as soaking in a hot bath, then reading a book or listening to soothing music," recommends Nancy Shark, executive director of the Better Sleep Council. "Create a sleep-conducive environment that is dark, quiet, comfortable, and cool. Use your bed room only for sleep and sex, and finish eating at least two hours before bedtime."

Walsleben adds, "Telling women to keep regular hours and establish a sleep pattern is important. But to really help women, we need to address the larger issues that keep them up nights. Women need more money for their work. They need more stable home lives. Just as women need to make sleep a priority, society needs to make women a priority so they can finally get the rest they deserve."

Better Sleep Council www.bettersleep.org

National Sleep Foundation www.sleepfoundation.org

Article published in Lutheran Woman Today, May 2006