Can social factors explain sex differences in insomnia?
Women have higher rates of insomnia than men, but the better educated a woman is, the more likely she is to sleep through the night, finds a large study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Conversely, the better educated a man is, the less likely he is to get a good night’s sleep, the research shows. The findings are based on a nationally representative Taiwanese survey on social trends, involving nearly 40,000 people aged 15 and older. Questions included marital status, employment/occupation, educational attainment, and household income, as well as the number of family members under the age of 15. Insomnia was assessed using criteria developed by the World Health Organization, and scored on a scale of 1 to 5. Overall, insomnia tended to be more common among those who were older, divorced/separated, had low educational attainment, poor health, or low income. Children living at home also increased the rates of insomnia. These findings applied to both sexes, but rates of
