Getting a good night\u2019s sleep might go a long way to improving sex life for middle-aged and older women, a new study suggests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers, who analyzed data from 93,668 women aged 50 to 79, found those who got less than seven to eight hours of sleep each night were less likely to be satisfied with their sex lives, compared to those who slept longer, according to the report published in Menopause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Insomnia also seemed to diminish the likelihood a woman would feel satisfied with her sex life, the researchers found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While no one knows for sure why less sleep might lead to less sexual satisfaction, the study\u2019s lead author, Dr. Juliana Kling, has some ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe know that sleep is really important for our functioning,\u201d said Kling, an assistant professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. \u201cLack of sleep oftentimes leads to difficulty with concentration along with other ramifications. A lot of sex is in the brain and if we\u2019re not alert and we\u2019re not able to focus, that might help explain some of the findings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Studies in younger women seem to back this up. \u201cA study in healthy college age women found that the number of hours slept at night was related to the level of sexual desire the next day,\u201d Kling said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s quite possible that the hit sleep takes as women age could be having an impact on their sex lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The majority of women in the study, 60 percent, reported they achieved those magical seven to eight hours of sleep. So, perhaps not surprisingly, 56 percent of the women said they were somewhat or very satisfied with their current sexual activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But among those who slept less, sex occurred more rarely and was less satisfying, Kling and her colleagues found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bottom line, Kling said, is \u201cthe findings really suggest that high quality and sufficient sleep is important for sexual function. \u201cWe need to be making sure that we\u2019re looking at those factors and other healthy habits and not from just the gynecological perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new findings make Dr. Phyllis Zee wonder: \u201cif we could prioritize and improve sleep in women, particularly those who are peri-menopausal and post-menopausal, could we improve their sexual function?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis type of research leads us to ask more questions,\u201d said Zee, professor of neurology and the director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University. \u201cFrom a clinical standpoint, it would make me think of things I hadn\u2019t thought of before. Now, I will ask about sleep and sexual function.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The findings may add to the growing list of reasons why we should prioritize sleep, said Rebecca Thurston, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. \u201cThere\u2019s a relationship between shortened sleep and the risk for cardiovascular disease,\u201d Thurston said. \u201cAnd we also know that it affects people\u2019s mood and anxiety levels as well as cognitive function.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Getting a good night\u2019s sleep might go a long way to improving sex life for middle-aged and older women, a new study suggests. Researchers, who analyzed data from 93,668 women aged 50 to 79, found those who got less than seven to eight hours of sleep each night were less likely to be satisfied with their sex lives, compared to those who slept longer, according to the report published in Menopause. Insomnia also seemed to diminish the likelihood a woman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mental-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":515,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions\/515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}