Here’s something that will keep you up at night: Women statistically get less sleep than men. According to the Sleep Foundation, adult women are more likely than men to wake up every night and more likely to stay up late every night.
If you’re a woman reading this, you may be thinking, duh! Even in 2026, women still bear a disproportionate burden of unpaid household labor and childcare. According to a report conducted by the Gender Equity Policy Institute, women spend roughly 12.6 hours a week on household chores, like cooking and cleaning, while men spend roughly 5.7 hours a week on them.
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It’s women who are more likely to be up with insomnia due to stress, rock a crying child back to sleep or be answering work emails at night because they had to spend an hour in the school pick-up line. So here’s a question for you: How much sleep do women really need?
The answer to this varies depending on what lifestage a woman is in; sleep changes during pregnancy and menopause (something else men are spared). Here’s what you need to know about how much sleep you should get depending on your age, according to a sleep expert.
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How Much Sleep Women in Their 20s and 30s Need
“Women in their 20s and 30s typically need around seven to nine hours of sleep per night, which is known as the sweet spot for cognitive performance, balancing hormones and emotional regulation,” says Dr. Deborah Lee, MD, FAACP, a doctor with Doctor Fox and sleep expert working with The Wooden Bed Company.
These are the years women may be putting in demanding hours at work to start building their careers while also maintaining familial, friendship and romantic relationships. That’s a lot to juggle. For many, it’s also when they start having children.
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“This makes sleep absolutely essential for stress resilience and metabolic health. If you’re in this age bracket and consistently get under six hours of sleep a night, it’s likely going to have a long-term impact, whether this is contributing towards a health condition, increased anxiety or weight gain,” Dr. Lee says. Scientific research backs this up, showing that consistently getting less hours of sleep a night is associated with a higher risk for high blood pressure and weight gain.
During pregnancy, Dr. Lee says that the body requires more sleep. “Pregnancy increases what the body is demanding from you and your energy drains a lot quicker. Many people feel as though they need more sleep, particularly in the first trimester,” she explains.
In fact, it’s not unusual to need 12 hours of sleep a night during the first trimester, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Getting enough sleep is important throughout pregnancy. According to a study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, consistently getting less than six hours of sleep in the third trimester is linked to longer labor and a higher risk of Cesarean deliveries.
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How Menopause Impacts Sleep Needs for Women in Their 40s and 50s
While the number of hours of sleep women should get doesn’t change during menopause, Dr. Lee says that it can be harder to get them due to hormonal fluctuations. “Women’s sleep will become a lot lighter, meaning that they might wake up easier and earlier, and feel less refreshed the next day even if they spend the exact same time in bed,” she explains.
Dr. Lee says that mood swings, anxiety, brain fog, night sweats, insomnia and hot flashes can all get in the way of consistently getting enough sleep during menopause. “Insomnia is a major symptom of perimenopause and often occurs in the 40s, many years before the last menstrual period, and in the absence of hot flashes,” she says.
To this point, according to a 2025 study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, between 13 and 47% of people in perimenopause experience insomnia and between 30 and 60% of people in menopause experience insomnia.
Since getting enough sleep is crucial for health, it’s important to talk to your doctor about potential interventions if you are in menopause and consistently not getting enough sleep. For example, Dr. Lee says that hormone replacement therapy has been shown to significantly improve sleep within one to three months of starting.
How Much Sleep Postmenopausal Women Need
According to Dr. Lee, after 60, the structure and timing of sleep change for most women. She says that while postmenopausal women still require seven to nine hours of sleep within 24 hours, often this is split up between a shorter sleep duration at night with the addition of a nap during the day.
“The perception of sleep changes. A lot of people over the age of 65 feel they’re not sleeping enough, whereas in fact, they’re getting a shorter sleep at night, but making up for it with naps in the day,” she shares.
Dr. Lee adds that many people shift to going to bed earlier and waking up earlier as they age. She says that, often, sleep becomes lighter too. “One of the most consistent changes with aging is a reduction in slow wave sleep, which is the deepest, most restorative stage of sleep. REM sleep, which is associated with dreaming and memory processing, may also shorten slightly as you get older. As a result, sleep becomes lighter overall, and you may find yourself waking up more easily compared to how to used to sleep,” she explains.
No matter how old you are, Dr. Lee emphasizes that maintaining habits that support good sleep are important. This includes not drinking alcohol or eating too close to bedtime, avoiding caffeine late in the day and having a relaxing, screen-free wind-down routine. Having these habits in place helps blunt sleep disruptors when they do occur.
Remember, staying healthy both now and in the future requires getting consistently good sleep. If you’re not getting enough, talk to your healthcare provider about possible interventions that can help.
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Sources:
- The Sleep Gender Gap: Nighttime Disparities Between Women and Men. Sleep Foundation
- The Free-Time Gender Gap. Gender Equity Policy Institute
- Dr. Deborah Lee, MD, FAACP, a doctor with Doctor Fox and sleep expert working with The Wooden Bed Company
- Patel, S. R., Malhotra, A., White, D. P., et al. (2006). Association between Reduced Sleep and Weight Gain in Women. American Journal of Epidemiology. 164(10):947-954
- First Trimester Fatigue. Johns Hopkins Medicine
- Won, C. H. J. (2015). Sleeping for Two: The Great Paradox of Sleep in Pregnancy.Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 11(6):593-594
- Troìa, L., Garassino, M., Immacolata Volpicelli, A., et al. (2025). Sleep Disturbance and Perimenopause: A Narrative Review. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 14(5):1479
