Biological sex, that is. The kind that operates within your body, affecting everything from blood pressure, to hormone production, to sleep.
We like to say that it doesn’t matter, that we’re all equal – until it does.
A recent Wall Street Journal article was just another reminder that sex, indeed, does matter.
Men are From Mars; Women are from Venus
Humans have long been grappling with sex and its sibling, gender. We’ve argued back and forth about what differences there were between the two, and how that translated into social roles, work roles, cognitive abilities, physical abilities, communication skills, and who makes a better parent.
It’s possible that our long tortured history with this question has also spooked us a bit. Just like race, biological sex was long used as justification why someone couldn’t do something. Bringing it into the conversation, understandably, raises a number of red flags.
But to completely ignore it – to say that it has little or no effect on biological functions like sleep – is missing the point. In fact, bringing sex into the equation might be a good thing.
Sex is the new X Factor
In many different fields, it’s becoming clear that sex and sex differences are playing a greater role in research. More and more scientists are looking at how sex differences affect the brain, cells, organs – even how the body handles certain types of drugs, foods, and pharmaceuticals.
Such actions appear to be influencing sleep researchers, who are now asking questions like:
- Do men and women use sleep differently in memory processing? If so, what does this mean for learning abilities – and our testing methods?
- Do men and women experience similar events – like insomnia- differently? If so, where within the body do those differences play out?
- Do men and women have circadian rhythms of different lengths? If so, what does it mean for bedtime routine?
We at Zeo are doing our part to help, diving deeper into our DOZER database and looking how how sleep stacks up among men and women. For instance, we presented a poster at this year’s APSS conference on how sleep phases change based on age and gender. (Download Full Poster).
It’s a also study we couldn’t have done without your help. Just to get a fraction of this information across different ages and sexes would have taken tremendous effort on any researcher’s part. So don’t thank us – thank yourself every time you upload data. Your efforts are paying off, big time.
In short, the more all of us do and share research like this, the better we will all be at tackling the sex question. Just like age revealed itself to be a key component in understanding sleep, sex is poised to do the same.
So, what will you get? A poster is nice – but a little something more in exchange for sleep data would be better.
How about more sleep tips, strategies, and information tailored to you? Not just to your age and occupation, but also to your sex. Information that take into account sex related issues like hormonal changes and hot flashes – not just that they happen, but how they play out and what you can do about it.
Sounds pretty good to me – but why don’t you weigh in below? It is, after all, your data.
Tell us what you’d like to see done with this information here in the comments or on our forum. We’re all ears.
- Age and Sex affect Sleep Quality and Quantity
- Why Sleep Science Doesn’t Know Everything – and What You Can Do About It
- Sleep Architecture the Third: Back to the Sleep Cycles
- Why REM could stand for “Remembering Everyday Memories”
- Behind the Headband: Your Internal Symphony