You’re 20 minutes into the DVD you started watching with your partner, and that soft rumble you hear isn’t on the sound track. It’s her snoring away. Why do women seem to conk out no matter what’s on screen?
Automatic Reaction
“We’re tired,” says psychologist Janet Kennedy, who runs NYCSleepDoctor.com. “We lead busy lives, we don’t get enough sleep and we’re usually trying to stay up later on weekends. So when we get cozy on the couch in front of the TV, we relax and get sleepy… The mere act of sitting down to watch a movie can become a cue to fall asleep. Think of Pavlov’s dogs.” Having been fed every time a bell rang, the dog became conditioned to drool upon hearing bells. “In this case, the movie is the bell and sleep is the conditioned response.” “If you’re sleep-deprived, you’ll get drowsy earlier than others do,” says neurologist David Duhon at the Sleep Disorders Center of Central Texas. “Many working adults are sleep-deprived. The vast majority of the high school and college populations are chronically sleep-deprived as well.”
Are Women More Tired?
But are women more sleep-deprived and more susceptible to conditioned response than men? Studies say yes. On a 10-point “fatigue scale,” 78 percent of women and 73 percent of men in one study checked at least one item; twice as many women as men checked all 10. According to that study, complaints of fatigue are consistently reported as “between two or three times more prevalent in women than men. Although some have found the difference to be explained by higher rates of psychiatric disorder among women, this has not been confirmed.” YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN 10 Most Overpriced Products You Should Avoid Want to Cut Electric Bills? Beware the ‘Phantom Loads’ The Benefits of Being Bitter Implants, Piercings and Prosthetics, Oh My! What You May Reveal to TSA Employees Which Celeb Needs to Cover Up Her Cleavage? Noting that 10.6 percent of women and 10.2 percent of men suffered “substantial fatigue,” another study concluded: “Women were more likely to complain of fatigue than men, even after adjustment for psychological distress.” “Women report feeling tired more than men,” asserts yet another study, blaming housework. Women spend on average 27 hours a week at their jobs and 33 hours doing domestic work, the study found; men spend 41 and 12 hours, respectively. Mothers “take a larger share of the planning of family life… whereas men appear to have a larger freedom of choice about when and how to do their share. Women with very small children who also have jobs that require them to lift weights may be lifting more weight in a day than their male colleagues.” Ouch. “There are plenty of men wh o conk out when the TV goes on,” Kennedy counters. To determine which gender conks out more consistently, and why, “we’d have to do a controlled study involving chick flicks compared with action movies and using documentaries as a control group. My guess is that it has at least something to do with content.” ________________________________________________________________
