Yawn!

An item at the BBC reports that "Bed sharing 'drains men's brains'". What they actually mean to say is that when sharing a bed, both men and women have their sleep disturbed, but men more so than women. Interestingly, the women of the study correctly reported that they got better sleep when alone in the bed, but the men appeared to be in denial over the idea and reported the reverse. I find myself concluding that it must be some sort of machismo on the men's part to make that claim, but the women felt no such pressure.

The investigator suggests that women are better able to cope with broken sleep because they have so many life events (children, menopause, the period) that disturb their sleep. However, nothing is offered to try to explain the other side of the coin - why men cope less well. A moment's reflection, and I hypothesise that it may be that men have evolved as lighter sleepers, better prepared to awake and defend their mate and children on slighter indications of danger. Hmmm. Man as protector. Not very politically correct, that.

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