My boyfriend could sleep 24 hours a day. On weekends he’ll sleep until noon and still have a three-hour nap later in the day, and he’ll often conk out by 8 pm on weeknights. When I expressed concern over his behavior (worried that it could be a symptom of an illness), he told me that men just need to sleep more than women, and came up with a cockamamie explanation of how women have a higher percentage of body fat that lets them work longer hours. Honestly, this sounds insane. I’ve never dated any other man who seemed to need so much rest. I can’t help but feel like this BF is just lazy and that down the road I’m going to be doing all of the cooking and cleaning and yardwork and errands because his “delicate male constitution” requires another nap. Is there any truth to my boyfriend’s argument?
And, I should add that he’s not a teenager with growing pains. He’s 32. And he doesn’t work a physically taxing job. He’s a lawyer.
Theres something wrong with that guy. Women are the sleepers.and nappers. I used to joke to my wife If they said the world was going to end in an hour…she would say wake me up in 55 minutes please.
I asked a black guy I worked with if black women were that way. He said Hey bitches can sleep. Ive married a couple and lived with 3 others. My experience has been that way.
Does he snore? My brother was always tired growing up. Once he got his apnea treated (with surgery) he now can stay awake for more than 8 hours at a time.
That’s assuredly not normal for men. It’s possible that men sleep more than women on average - I’ve never heard of such a thing, but it might be true - but they certainly don’t sleep four hours more per day than women.
He really oughta get evaluated by a doctor. There’s a lot of things that could cause this. Hell, it could just be too much coffee in the mornings. I think thyroid problems cause excessive sleepiness. There’s narcolepsy. He might be depressed.
Or whatever. Bottom line, it’s not normal, and it seems like he needs a work-up from a doctor.
Could it be a higher metabolism in males? I’m just like your boyfriend. I can sleep anytime anywhere.
In my experience, every single person I’ve met that slept more than 10 hours straight had been:
- Physically overextending themself or
- Missing sleep the day before or
- Physically ill or
- Depressed
Perhaps our attorney friend has stayed up late working?
Is simply mentally exhausted by the job?
Women on average sleep one hour a day more than men. At least according to one survey I read.
You need to look at other variables before concluding there’s a problem. First he’s wrong that there’s different requirements for each gender in sleeping.
My ex was definitely cramped by the fact I slept so much but HE was not healthy, he got by on 5 hours’ of sleep nightly, he took forever and ever to wake up and sometimes never did. groggy and sluggish all day long whereas I was/am awake at 5 AM sharp well-rested and eager to start the day.
My dad and I sleep more than the rest of the family, but we both definitely exercise & workout a LOT more than the rest of them also. we are very very energetic in our waking hours. We also get up very early jumping out of bed the minute we wake up while the rest of the family yawns & shuffle their feet making morning coffee. Just in our genes I guess.
if your bf’s just a lethargic whale in his waking hours, then there’s definitely a problem.
btw my dad and I get about 8 hours’ of sleep each night and add in long 3-hour naps on Saturdays & Sundays. We’ve also been known to have our round-the-clock sleep schedules after a week or two of extreme stress. I think I’ve had my share of 16-hour sleep days… the catch is that I also ran more than 15 miles these days.
'Cause we’re at work all day, trying to keep food on the table!
::d&r::
I sleep about 30 minutes more a night than my Wife. And I never sleep well.
I might take a nap during the day every few years or so. But I have to be dead dog tired. I’ve taken a nap twice in our 9 years of marriage.
I hate sleeping during the day.
My Wife will fall asleep during the day perhaps once a month.
My Wife can conk out for a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon. I just can’t. It really makes me feel weird to sleep in the middle of the day, so, I just don’t.
Do men need more sleep? In the absence of physical exertion, probably not. But I think maybe men are more likely to engage in a level of activity that would induce extra sleep. If I recall correctly, human growth hormone is a major sleep-inducing hormone. HGH production is a response to exercise, and men tend to produce more of it than women. A couple of years ago I trained for a half-marathon… it was totally normal for me to sleep from 7:30PM to 6AM the next day and feel like catching a catnap in the afternoon.
But then I’ve always been a long sleeper, and lazy by most accounts. The only time I can get on a normal schedule is if I do moderate exercise for about 45 minutes a day in the morning. Then I can go to bed about 10PM and sleep 8 hours. If I don’t exercise at all, then I want to sleep late and nap in the afternoon. But If I exercise too long or too strenuously, then I want to go to bed at 8PM. It makes it difficult to do any serious athletic or weight-loss plans. I’ll probably never do a marathon; there’s just no time to get the sleep i’d need for recovery.
But anyway, to the OP, check on the physical condition and habits of your boyfriend. If he is exercising too much or too little, that could be the problem. If he’s overweight, he could have a sleep-disrupting airway blockage. I also had some depression a couple of years back… boy howdy, if you don’t think a person could sleep 20 hours at a stretch for weeks at a time, I’m here to tell you firsthand that it can be done. Nice way to escape reality, but not much of a long-term plan for getting anything done.
Mm, my husband’s the napper in our family. But he works six days a week to my five, and Sunday is truly the day of rest for him. He’ll sleep in, be alive for a few hours, then go down again for a long nap. He catches up on the week all in one day.
I’m a more solid sleeper, and tend to get up on the weekends instead of sleeping in. But I’ve probably had better quality sleep throughout the week than he.
No, men don’t need more sleep than women.
Men need to sleep with women more.