Gender differences in objective and self-reported sleep

It is not clear whether gender differences in self-reported sleep reflect polysomnographical differences. We here investigated gender differences in polysomnography (PSG) variables and their association with rated sleep quality for recorded sleep. The participants were 238 women and 238 men who were recorded for a night with PSG (home recordings), and provided sleep quality ratings for the recorded night. Analyses of variance showed that women reported significantly lower sleep quality than men, but it showed significantly better PSG sleep (fewer awakenings per hour, lower N1%, longer total sleep time, higher sleep efficiency, and more N3%, among others). However, men underestimated their objective number of awakenings and had a shorter objective time awake per objective awakening (6.4 ± .6 vs 8.2 ± .6 minutes for women, p < .05). Men with short awakenings (<7.8 min per awakening) had a high self-reported sleep quality, in contrast to men with long awakenings or women regardless of the duration of awakenings. When men with short awakenings were excluded, self-reported sleep quality no longer differed between genders. Gender differences in PSG variables increased with age. In addition, better self-reported sleep quality was associated with "better" PSG values for both genders. In conclusion, women reported poorer sleep quality than men but showed better objective sleep. It is suggested that men's better self-reported sleep is associated with an inability to perceive/remember short awakenings. The findings open a new view of gender differences in sleep, and indicate a need for experimental studies on gender differences in the perception of awakenings, their duration, and rated sleep quality.