In The NoCo

Women sleep less soundly than men. A CU researcher asks if biology – or flawed research – is to blame

By In The NoCo,

Published January 10, 2025 at 5:35 AM MST

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Courtesy of Rachel Rowe / CU Boulder

"If you think about women as being the caretakers or being mothers, they need to be able to be aroused easily... I think that from an evolutionary standpoint, that's to protect the species," says Rachel Rowe, assistant professor of Integrative Physiology at CU Boulder who studies sleep disturbances. "So I think that maybe it's actually our superpower."

When it’s time to get a good night’s rest, women have it harder than men. Women are more likely than men to have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the treatments that doctors prescribe for sleep disorders, like medication or different bedtime routines, may be based more on data about male sleep patterns than female sleep patterns.

That's a key takeaway from a new study out of the University of Colorado. The findings could eventually lead doctors to rethink how they treat sleep problems -- especially in women.

Rachel Rowe is Assistant Professor of Integrative Physiology at CU, and she worked on the study. Rowe joined Erin O’Toole to explain her research and how sleep medicine as we know it may be short-changing women who experience sleep problems.

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In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University’s NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family’s financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of KUNC’s new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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Brad Turner

Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS Newshour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.

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