Why Do Most Women Fall Asleep During Movies?

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You’re into the DVD with your partner, and 20 minutes later, you hear not the soft sound of the sound track but the rumble sound of your partner snoring away.

Why do women always fall asleep during movies no matter what’s on the screen?

Janet Kennedy a psychologist who manages NYCSleepDoctor.com explains, “We’re tired…we lead busy lives, we don’t get enough sleep and we’re usually trying to stay up later on weekends. So when we get cozy on the couch in front of the TV, we relax and get sleepy… The mere act of sitting down to watch a movie can become a cue to fall asleep. Think of Pavlov’s dogs.” It is an automatic reaction. It is a conditioned response. The movie acts as the bell that conditions the mind to sleep.

David duhon at the Sleep Disorders Center of Central Texas said, “If you’re sleep-deprived, you’ll get drowsy earlier than others do.
Many working adults are sleep-deprived. The vast majority of the high school and college populations are chronically sleep-deprived as well.”

But are women more sleep-deprived than men?

The answer is YES! Studies reveal that on a 10-point “FATIGUE SCALE”, 78% women and 73% men in one study checked at least one item; twice as many women as men checkell all 10. Complaints of fatigue are consistently reported and are more prevalent in women than men.

In another study, women blame household work as cause of their feeling tired. Women spend on average 27 hours a week at their jobs and 33 hours doing domestic work while men spend an average of 41 hours at their jobs and 12 hours for domestic work. Working mothers take a larger share of the planning of family life while men appear to have larger freedom of choice about when and how to do their share. Women with very small children who also have jobs that require them to lift weights may be lifting more weight in a day than their male colleagues, the study found.

Other reason why women fall asleep, could be the movie itself put them to sleep? Kennedy counters that it has something to do with content of the film. A study was conducted to determine which gender conks out more consistently and why. The study asked three things of a film: Does it include at least two female characters? Do they speak to each other? Do they speak about anything besides a man?

According to the study, which examined a random sampling of 122 films, “a higher percentage of females than males are shown in sexy, tight or alluring attire. Females are more likely than their male counterparts to be physically attractive and portrayed with some exposed skin between the mid-chest and upper thigh regions. A higher percentage of females than males are depicted under 21. And this is probably because men make films.

“Only 7% of directors, 13% of writers, and 20% of producers are female… These numbers calculate into a ratio of 4.88 males to every one female in key production occupations.”

To keep things fair and keep her awake, the USC scholars would advise selecting more films from among the scant 8.2% directed by women and the 32% scripted by at least one female writer.

So keep each one awake while watching DVD, you better start your movie earlier in the evening. If you got up early and had a tough day, its truly difficult to stay up later than usual to watch a movie. Better yet, watch movie on a Saturday instead of Friday. And if you find yourself nodding off, put the player in pause mode, get up and stretch your arms, drink a cold glass of water. Avoid wathcing a movie lying down.