We’ve all heard the phrase “I’ll catch up on sleep later.” But for many Indian women, “later” never really comes. A new national survey has highlighted just how stark the sleep gap between men and women really is, and the reasons behind it are all too familiar. Working women in India get less than eight hours of rest a night, around ten minutes fewer than men. It may not sound like much, but over the course of weeks and months, it adds up. Why the gap? Women often work what’s called the “double shift”: first in their paid jobs, then at home, where late-night chores and early wake-ups cut into precious hours of rest. The survey found that women in their 30s, those prime years of work and child-rearing, average just 7.6 hours of sleep per day. Men hit their lowest in their 40s, but still hover closer to eight hours. Teenagers are another story altogether: over half of urban youth go to bed after 10 pm, thanks to late-night scrolling or binge-watching. Where you live also plays a role. In rural India, men and women tend to sleep earlier, but women still wake up earlier, by an average of 26 minutes. In urban homes, the gap remains, with women rising half an hour before men. Seniors may sleep over ten hours a day, but restlessness in the night is common, particularly in states such as Uttarakhand and Tripura. Screens are a big culprit. In cities like Bengaluru, nearly half of the people end their day with TV or mobile phones. Women, however, face a different barrier: housework. For up to 18 per cent of rural women and 16 per cent of urban women, the last task before bed is cleaning the kitchen. For men, that number is negligible. Even women who don’t have office jobs struggle. Homemakers sleep less at night compared to men in their families, though many try to make up for it with naps during the day. The problem? Fragmented rest never recharges the body as well as a solid block of uninterrupted sleep
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Why Indian Women Are Sleeping Less Than Men
