Women's Sleep Throughout the Lifespan Research Assignment (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

Women’s Sleep throughout the Lifespan
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Sleep in women is uniquely influenced by hormonal changes throughout their life span. Women are recognized to have better sleep quality than men though they generally have more sleep related complaints than men. They have longer sleep duration, take less time to fall asleep and naturally spend higher percentage of their time in bed sleeping. The prevalence of sleep disorders among women shifts as they age, beginning with the onset of puberty (Driver HS, Baker FC 1998). This essay tempts to relate sleep and menstrual cycle and during pregnancy between, Driver HS, Baker FC, Menstrual factors in sleep and Women’s Sleep throughout the Lifespan by Jacqueline D. Kloss and Christina O. Nash.
It is noted by Driver HS, and Baker FC that women with premenstrual mood symptoms (PMS) have more stage 2 sleep, less deep sleep and altered circadian rhythms of temperatures and melatonin. These PMS include abdominal bloating, acne, anxiety and confusion, feelings of loneliness and paranoia, increased appetite, food cravings (personally I eat more chocolate at this time) others have mood swings, weepiness and digestive upsets coupled by drops in sexual desires. This is often followed by subjective complaints of rise in daytime sleepiness. Primary dysmenorrhea women have pain that decreases their sleep quality subjectively that change the amount of rapid eye movement sleep (Driver HS, Baker FC 1998). These women are not only affected by changes in sleep during menstruation but also have higher nocturnal temperatures. They also experience different hormonal patterns throughout the menstrual cycle compared to control subjects with normal menstruation. These beliefs are also voiced by Jacqueline D. Kloss and Christina O in Women’s Health psychology as they point out that subjective and objective sleep changes may coincide with menstrual cycles. They also point out that sleep disruption and lower sleep quality have been associated with PMS, Premenstrual Dysphoric disorder and Dysmenorrhea. Sleep architecture in women taking oral contraceptives have also shown to differ from those naturally ovulating women.
Sleep changes through each trimester in healthy pregnancy (Driver HS, Baker FC 1998). The first trimester is characterized by greater daytime sleepiness with increased sleep times. In Second trimester, they tend to sleep the best and have resurgence of their daytime energy. Third trimester sees the return of sleep difficulties, including the inability to find comfortable sleeping positions. Last trimester sees the swelling of nasal tissues, causing a lot of snoring accompanied by increased incidences of restles...