Women tend to require more sleep than men because of their “complex” brains, according to research.
Scientists found that around 20 minutes more sleep was needed by women compared to men - and said this was thought to be because the female brain works harder during the day.
The study was carried out on a sample set of 210 middle-aged men and women, RSVPlive reports.
Sleep neuroscientist Professor Jim Horne believes that women can experience increased levels of psychological distress due to lack of sleep. However, this isn't the case for men.
Horne said that, in general, these feelings "were not associated with the same degree of sleep disruption" for males.
He also noted that because women tend to "multi-task", they use their brains more during the day and this is why they need more time to recover.
"The more of your brain you use during the day, the more of it that needs to recover and, consequently, the more sleep you need," Horne said..
"Women tend to multi-task — they do lots at once and are flexible — and so they use more of their actual brain than men do. Because of that, their sleep need is greater".
According to the sleep expert, on average females need twenty minutes extra sleep. However, this can vary from woman to woman.
He also pointed out that men whose jobs involve "decision-making and lateral thinking" are likely to need more sleep.
So next time you need a lie-in gals, this is the perfect excuse!
