There are almost a million reasons why you want to sleep well. To begin with, you have a sharper brain. You also have a healthier heart, better blood sugar levels and a lower chance of obesity and early death. (Oh, and your immune system starts firing on all cylinders every day as it should.)
But if you’re an older woman who’s not getting enough quality sleep, a new study just published says there’s another reason why you want to switch off earlier in the evenings and stick to much better sleeping habits: you’re probably having worse sex, if you assume you’re experiencing anything at all.
According to the study, published in Menopause, the official journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), women of poor quality may get sleep experience what the researchers describe as a form of female sexual dysfunction.
Related: Never do this if you want to sleep well, say health experts
The study analyzed the sleep quality, sleep duration and ‘sexual function’ of more than 3,400 women with a mean age of 53 years. Eventually, the researchers concluded that poor sleep quality – and not necessarily the duration of the night – was linked to a greater risk of female sexual dysfunction. “Good sleep quality, on the other hand, has been linked to sexual activity,” the study’s official release said.
“If you put a bowl and a bowl of sex in front of a tired woman, she goes to bed every time,” said Stephanie Faubion, MD, NAMS’s medical director, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health, and the senior author of the study, CNN commented on the findings of the study.
Faubion says that the ‘female sexual dysfunction’ observed in the study is largely defined as a low sexual desire that is specifically related to feelings of need. “You can’t call it sexual dysfunction unless a woman is worried about it,” she told CNN. “For example, a woman may have a low sexual desire, but it may not bother her. So we are the first study to my knowledge that looked not only at sexual function, but also at it.”
The study also found that women who slept less than five hours a night were more likely to experience ‘sexual problems’.
If you want to sleep better, consider trying some of these helpful tips, thanks to The Mayo Clinic. And for more reasons, you need to sleep more every day, seeing the dangerous side effects of not sleeping, according to experts.
“Ban devices from your bedroom and create a dark space by using darker shades or an eye mask,” notes the Mayo Clinic. “Noise can also interfere with your sleep ability. Try using a fan or a noise machine to block out unwanted noises.”
“Just like children, adults sleep better if they have a bedtime routine. Doing the same thing before bed every night can prepare your body for rest and condition your brain for sleep.”
“If your busy mind keeps you awake at night, try to practice stress management techniques before going to bed.”
“If you’re lying in bed and stressed about your inability to sleep, you need to get out of bed and do something that will promote relaxation. It might be reading an uninteresting book, using a relaxation technique or the focus. on your breath. If you start to feel drowsy, go back to bed. “For more information on the importance of not trying also hard when it comes to sleep, read the best trick to go back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night.