Living in a country with more gender equality means better sleep for men and women, a new study has found.
Published May 8 in the Journal of Marriage and Family, the study examined 14,143 couples from 23 European countries. Women reported having their sleep disrupted by children under the age of 5 and working a stressful job. Men reported restless sleep if they were unhappy about their finances, wrote Leah Ruppanner, researcher and senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Melbourne in Australia, in a July 8 article in The Conversation.
However, both sexes slept better in more gender-equal societies.
Those cultures have a better division of housework and both parents take an active role in childcare, she said.
“Societies that are more effective in equalizing economic and political gender relations have citizens who sleep better,” Ruppanner said. “Since sleep is an integral dimension to health and well-being, the economic, health and social benefit to being well-rested cannot be understated. So, let’s work together to get to bed.”
