Do men and women stress differently?  Revelations from the Firstbeat database  

Subjectively speaking (based on self-reporting), women experience more stress than men, and objective, heart rate variability -based data seems to concur with this: women have more physiological stress than men. The result is perhaps surprising because women do more things “right” (or at least better than men) when it comes to recovery. This blog discusses the differences between men and women in the area of stress, recovery and sleep – and speculates on some of the possible explanations and effects on daily well-being.   

Traditional ways of thinking about men’s and women’s jobs and roles, based on expectations and historical traditions, are, at least to some degree and in some parts of the world, becoming outdated, narrow-minded, or even unacceptable. I’ve seen this in my own family, with both my sons and their respective partners dividing household tasks evenly, for example by taking alternate weeks to cook. This model was not passed on to them from my generation, and certainly not from their grandparents’ generation, when women quite typically handled most household chores. It’s something they created themselves, as part of how today’s young people commonly go about their lives – finding a way that works for them rather than doing things the way they were traditionally done. This is an encouraging sign, suggesting that human beings can evolve in a positive way (although, admittedly, this is often not so easy to see).

Despite the lofty goal of aiming for full equality, we probably cannot totally get away from gender differences. The aim of this blog is to show how the results of men and women differ in a few aspects of well-being, based on accurate, objective physiological data, and then speculate on why that might be.

Women Have More Physiological Stress Reactions and Less Recovery Than Men

When it comes to stress, according to the Firstbeat database (n = 292 000 measured days; app. 50% from Finland and 50% from other, mainly European countries), the result is quite straight-forward: women have more physiological stress reactions and less physiological recovery than men. This holds true for 24-hour periods, and also when we focus specifically on work time, leisure time, or sleep. This finding is supported by the self-reported result: women report experiencing more stress and rate their own well-being to be lower when compared to men (see Fig. 1 and 2).

Fig.1 20% of women do not feel well (disagree or strongly disagree with the statement “I feel well”).

Fig. 2 Differences between men and women in experienced stress (disagrees or strongly disagrees with the statement “I don´t generally feel stressed”) and in overall recovery (% of people who have poor recovery over 24h periods).

Since sleep is the most important time for recovery, and for overall well-being, let’s look at that more closely. As mentioned, our big data shows that women have more physiological stress reactions and less recovery during their sleep periods than men, suggesting poorer sleep quality. Why would this be? It’s somewhat surprising, or even conflicting (and from a woman’s perspective, certainly annoying!) because women do more things right to support better sleep. On average, women go to bed earlier, drink less alcohol, and sleep longer than men.  Furthermore, when evaluating exercise habits, our data shows that women exercise in a smarter way, from the viewpoint of sleep and overall well-being: they stop intensive exercise well before bedtime, unlike men, who are more likely to do high-intensity exercise late in the evening, which has been found to reduce sleep quality.

What Could Explain the Gender Differences?

Since lifestyle and daily behaviors don’t seem to explain the gender differences found in stress and recovery results, could there be something more biological or evolutionary to account for these differences? We might find some possible explanations if we go way back in history, to the time of hunter-gatherers, when gender roles were much more differentiated than is typical today. The men’s main responsibility was to bring the bread (meat) to the table, whereas women’s job was to look after the family and the community. This built-in role (of women) as carers, and the associated need to recognize and deal with problems, has probably left a mark in our DNA, which might still explain, at least partially, why women’s sleep seems to be a bit more superficial and prone to disturbances.

Even if gender-based differences have become narrower in scope over the centuries, it’s still common for women to carry a heavier load when it comes to child- and homecare duties. Women might take in more sensory information over the course of the day than men – and women are, on average, thought to be more likely to recognize and deal with problems and emotional issues than men. As a result, perhaps it takes longer for the “multi-tasking female brain” to resolve the complex issues it has been dealing with during the day, whereas the more “tunnel-like, action-focused male brain” might be quicker to close shop and settle down for sleep. These are gross generalizations, of course, and a bit off-the-cuff, but both personal experience and discussions with other women suggest that it is more typical for us women to worry and ruminate about things (think about the what-if’s and should-have’s), instead of being able to let go and accept that it’s time to stop doing and start resting. This kind of a mindset can translate into less restorative sleep.

Another viewpoint that a colleague of mine reminded me of, when we were discussing this complex topic a few days ago, is that research and experience suggests that in many fields, women must work harder to get the same respect in working life as men – do a bit more to get noticed or reach the same position, status, or salary as men. Countless women have experienced this, and this kind of “extra pushing” from day to day, on top of life’s other demands, might well help explain why women feel more stressed and why their physiological reactions also show this.

And then there are the hormones to think about! Firstbeat measurements are done for a few days in regular daily life, when it’s convenient for the individual or for the project, and in our database, the time of month (or menopause, when the hormonal influence is even bigger) has not been monitored or controlled. Yet, many women have noticed their stress levels to be higher before or during their period, with lower heart rate variability and poorer sleep quality. Individual differences in this area are big, but across the database, there are bound to be thousands of women whose overall result might have been influenced by hormones and the time of month.

Understanding the Differences Helps Drive Mindful Actions for Better Well-being

Absolute truths or conclusions for the physiological differences between men and women cannot be provided in this blog that just scratches the surface, but there clearly are some differences, and some of them seem to be explained, at least partially, by gender or gender-related patterns, rather than lifestyle. The experience of stress and mechanisms of recovery seem to differ between men and women in several ways – and understanding these differences better can help us develop more targeted and personalized wellness guidelines and strategies. Some of the differences seem to get bigger with age, and this is an area that deserves more investigation. The same goes for the role of female hormones on physiological markers of stress and recovery. The role of society and culture, and their possible effect on these types of results is another area that we will hopefully gain more understanding on in the years to come as our database expands to include more diverse populations.

In the meantime, for all of us women – let’s learn to be just a bit more merciful towards ourselves!  Especially in the evenings, let’s learn to stop doing and start resting – we cannot and don’t need to get it all done every day. I bet that by relaxing our attitude and expectations just a bit, in addition to the good habits we already have and are mindful of, we can close this gap to men, and our well-being will thank us for it!