Why Women Lose Sleep During a Crisis, And What To Do About It
As limbo on peace continues across the region, we ask how to reclaim sleep during challenging times seemingly without end. Martial Nesselbusch, Energetics practitioner and teacher at Roze BioHealth, explains why women are hit hardest by sleep deficit during times of strife
When a crisis hits, women and men do not experience the night equally. Research suggests that women show greater hormonal vulnerability to stress – induced sleep disruption.
How cortisol comes into play
Once elevated, cortisol is less efficiently cleared in women, prolonging the stress response and keeping the nervous system in an activated state into the night, disrupting the oestrogen progesterone balance that underpins healthy sleep architecture and indirectly suppressing the melatonin production the body depends on to initiate sleep.
We err towards rumination
Neurologically, women tend to demonstrate higher activation of the default mode network in connection with stress circuitry, the brain’s rumination circuit, making it considerably harder to release the day when threat is perceived.
The Chinese Energetics approach
In Chinese Energetics, the view is that the body, heart, and mind are interconnected. When one is affected or overloaded, it affects the others. The accumulation of emotional and mental pressures can be stored in the body, and the resulting internal tensions prevent the natural descent into deep, restorative sleep, a pattern amplified when vital reserves are already depleted by intense lifestyle and prolonged stress.
How gentle movement can help
The most effective response works on all three layers simultaneously: sensor down regulation in the two hours before bed, gentle movement such as qi gong or slow yoga to help the body discharge tension before sleep, extended exhale breathing to activate the vagus nerve and signal safety to the nervous system, and meridian techniques with an expert practitioner to release accumulated tensions held within the body.
The takeaway?
Crisis cannot always be controlled. The quality of our lives and nights can be.