The Magazine and Daily Blog of Catholic Living
Faith & Family Live is where everyday moms offer one another inspiration, support, and
encouragement in Catholic living. Anyone grappling with the meaning of life or the cleaning of laundry is
welcome here. Read the blog, check out our magazine, join our community, learn more
about our mission, and come on in! READ MORE
Meet the Faith & Family bloggers. We invite you to join us in encouraging and helping the Faith & Family community grow in faith!
Danielle Bean
Danielle Bean, a mother of eight, is editor-in-chief of Catholic Digest and Faith & Family. She is author of My Cup of Tea, Mom to Mom, Day to Day, and most recently Small Steps for Catholic Moms. Though she once struggled to separate her life and her …
Read My Posts
Rachel Balducci
Rachel Balducci is married to Paul and they are the parents of five lively boys and one precious baby girl. She is the author of How Do You Tuck In A Superhero?, and is a newspaper columnist for the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia. For the past four years, she has …
Read My Posts
Lisa Hendey
Lisa Hendey is the founder and editor of CatholicMom.com and the author of A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms and The Handbook for Catholic Moms. Lisa is also enjoys speaking around the country, is employed as webmaster for her parish web sites and spends time on various …
Read My Posts
Arwen Mosher
Arwen Mosher lives in southeastern Michigan with her husband Bryan and their 4-year-old daughter, 2-year-old son, and twin boys born May 2011. She has a bachelor's degree in theology. She dreads laundry, craves sleep, loves to read novels and do logic puzzles, and can't live without tea. Her personal blog site …
Read My Posts
Rebecca Teti
Rebecca Teti is married to Dennis and has four children (3 boys, 1 girl) who -- like yours no doubt -- are pious and kind, gorgeous, and can spin flax into gold. A Washington, DC, native, she converted to Catholicism while an undergrad at the U. Dallas, where she double-majored in …
Read My Posts
Robyn Lee
Robyn Lee is a 30-something, single lady, living in Connecticut in a small bungalow-style kit house built by her great uncle in the 1950s. She also conveniently lives next door to her sister, brother-in-law and six kids ... and two doors down are her parents. She received her undergraduate degree from …
Read My Posts
DariaSockey
Daria Sockey is a freelance writer and veteran of the large family/homeschooling scene. She recently returned home from a three-year experiment in full time outside employment. (Hallelujah!) Daria authored several of the original Faith&Life Catechetical Series student texts (Ignatius Press), and is currently a Senior Writer for Faith&Family magazine. A latecomer …
Read My Posts
Kate Lloyd
Kate Lloyd is a rising senior, and a political science major at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire. While not in school, she lives in Whitehall PA, with her mom, dad, five sisters and little brother. She needs someone to write a piece about how it's possible to …
Read My Posts
Lynn Wehner
As a wife and mother, writer and speaker, Lynn Wehner challenges others to see the blessings that flow when we struggle to say "Yes" to God’s call. Control freak extraordinaire, she is adept at informing God of her brilliant plans and then wondering why the heck they never turn out that …
Read My Posts
coffee talk | advice | discussion | lenten reflection | sharing | parenting | family | nfp | prayer | fertility | education | marriage | sex | couples | school | open forum | homemaking | laundry | homeschool | wife | husband | relationships | lent | cleaning | babies | procreation | teach | learn | humor | fun | children | love | videos | kindness | faith | recipes | contraception | news | saints | food | moms | giveaway | housekeeping | gratitude | suffering | forgiveness | college | ideas | infertility | books | hallie lord | sweet | gifts | style sex and substance | blessings | thanksgiving | hhs mandate | religious liberty | stories | eucharist | experiences | cooking | vocations | challenges | service | sewing | jesus | crafts | vocation | confession | sleep | questions | freebies | truth | holiness | support | confirmation | toddlers | happiness | easy | catholic | titanic | discussions | fashion | triduum | self-sacrifice | music | christ | art | mothers day | heroism | journey | traditions | constitution | links | nobility | friendship | lessons | spouse | evangelization |
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Health on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 12:00 PM
I experienced my first earthquake yesterday, but the roiling earth did not shake my foundations quite as much as the news that men are more sleep deprived than women.
Yes, even new moms waking for night-time feedings.
While mothers of young children often feel like they get no sleep, Dr. Buysee says the research doesn’t bear that out. “This isn’t going to be popular, but some studies show that mothers get more sleep than fathers,” he says. Women likely feel worse because their sleep is so interrupted.
You might feel worse physically, but you’re probably getting the most important kind of sleep:
Multiple studies have shown that women generally have more slow-wave sleep, which is the deepest sleep. It tends to happen in the first part of the night and is critical to memory formation.
And no matter how bad you feel, it’s your husband’s work that’s more likely to suffer:
Women may be better able to cope with sleep deprivation than are men, probably because they get more deep sleep, recent research suggests. A small study, presented at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s annual meeting, aimed to mimic the common practice of people not getting enough sleep during the work week and then trying to make up for it on the weekends. Both men’s and women’s performance on a 10-minute computer task that measured reaction time and speed, among other variables, deteriorated after five nights of only six hours of sleep.
But women’s scores slipped less then men’s, and recovered to a greater degree after two nights of extended sleep, of eight hours. “I think what our data show is that women can deal with sleep loss better than men,” says Alexandros Vgontzas, professor of psychiatry at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pa., and a co-author of the study,
I dunno. My husband still seems perkier.
Page 1 of 1 pages
Well, I’ll grant you that I deal with sleep deprivation better than my husband does… but I didn’t exactly think that was “because he’s a guy.” Next time I’m running on 4 hours of sleep, he’s running on 8, and he comes home from work and says he needs a quick nap before dinner I’ll *try* to keep this study in mind. :s
My husband currently gets less sleep than me but that’s his choice. He stays up late each night watching TV while I go to bed when the kids do. However, when I had colicky babies who never slept more than an hour at a time at night he definitely got more sleep.
According to my husband’s doctor, men have a harder time dealing with illness than women, too. This “fact” does not make me any more sympathetic when my husband becomes completely useless for 3 days due to a cold, while I, on the other hand, am expected to plug along with the usual household responsibilities despite the same symptoms.
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
Print Blog
Email a Friend