Why dads sleep better than moms

pulse

March 3, 2017 5:16 PM

Having kids wrecks women’s sleep, but leaves guys’ shuteye unscathed, according to preliminary research.

Father and child sleeping

Surprisingly, kids aren’t wrecking their shuteye

Your wife is probably way more exhausted than you—if you have kids in the house, that is.

Having kids wrecks women’s sleep, but leaves guys’ shuteye unscathed, according to preliminary research set to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 69th Annual Meeting.

In the study, researchers discovered that the presence of kids in the house was the only factor associated with whether or not women under 45 get enough sleep, which they defined as 7 to 9 hours nightly.

In fact, each additional kid in the house upped her odds of insufficient sleep by nearly 50 percent.

They found that less than half of women with kids reported getting at least 7 hours of sleep, compared to 62 percent of women who didn’t have kids.

Not surprisingly, the lack of sleep is leaving the women exhausted—younger women with children said they felt tired 14 days a month on average, compared to 11 days for those with no kids in the house.

But while kids are sucking up women’s sleep, they aren’t affecting men’s at all.

The study found absolutely no link between the presence of kids in the house and how long men were sleeping.

Now, the study didn’t delve into what was responsible for the differences here. But whatever the reason, extending an additional helping hand to your wife on the kid front is never a bad idea.

In fact, as we reported in the past, women who report sharing childcare duties equally with their husbands report higher-quality relationships, better sex lives, and less partner conflict than moms who do most themselves. And men reported higher levels of sex satisfaction when they contributed equally, too.

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