To nap or not to nap? Having an afternoon lie-down is a luxury many of us can't afford – or, for some reason, find difficult to do. Yet, especially for women, sneaking in a 20-minute nap when possible could be key to better energy and overall well-being. Here, we speak with a certified sleep counsellor to uncover why napping, despite its sometimes bad reputation, might actually be good for you
For many women, napping is a hedonistic luxury they can’t afford. Whether due to work, childcare responsibilities, or an inability to be idle, an afternoon snooze is simply unfeasible – no matter how much it’s needed.
Women require more sleep than men. It's a notion that my algorithm has fed me for years, saying that, due to hormonal fluctuations, women need around eight or nine hours a night (ten if you’re pregnant), while men can get away with seven. Given how zombified I feel in the latter half of my menstrual cycle, these figures made sense to me. In reality, the gap isn’t quite as large. Turns out, both men and women need approximately seven to nine hours a night.
However, according to Laura Kanadel, a certified sleep counsellor, founder of The Sleep Institute, and co-founder of MUUN, women need about 20 minutes more sleep than their male counterparts. She tells me that “[20 minutes] may sound trivial until we remember it compounds over a lifetime. Women are at roughly double the risk of insomnia compared with men, and our sleep is shaped throughout life by hormonal change in a way the male body simply does not have to.”