Men, Women, and Stress: Do Our Bodies Recover Differently?

Women’s and men’s bodies are fundamentally different, even when it comes to something as basic as sleep. On average, women require a little more sleep than men – experts suggest an extra 20 minutes to accommodate for higher cognitive function and sleep fragmentation.

According to research from the Sleep Foundation (2024), women tend to sleep slightly longer than men and report needing more sleep due to physiological, psychological, and social reasons. Hormonal fluctuations and higher rates of sleep disturbance also have a role to play here.

Same Threat, Different Responses

In Duroflex’s recent collaboration with Dr. Manan Vora, a well-known orthopaedic surgeon and health educator, he mentioned something about stress that most of us brush off on our day to day life:

The stress hormone is activated in the human body through the HPA axis, the system that releases both cortisol and adrenaline. However, men and women have different responses to it, validated by a study published in Psychoneuroendocrinology (Gomes et al., 2023). For men, the cortisol spike is sharp and drops easily: meaning they feel strong momentary spikes of stress, but it’s short lived, and lowers once the stressor is gone. However, women’s cortisol levels often stay elevated longer, especially if they’re exposed to emotional or social stressors: basically, they are more likely to experience chronic stress that lingers even after a stressful situation is over.

Hormonal Differences in Stress Response It’s impossible to bucket different individuals into gender categories; not everyone is alike, and individual needs may differ. However, a study published in PubMed found significant differences in the men and women’s sleep patterns.

Women: Hormones, Heat, and Restless Nights

Women’s stressors are more often triggered by social/emotional situations, which manifest as prolonged mental processing, rumination, or a “can’t switch off” feeling.

 

 Depending on the hormonal cycle, certain hormones can make it worse: high estrogen levels spike cortisol sensitivity, leading to increased stress and worry, and one of the ways this shows up is in disrupted sleep patterns.

 

Core body temperature usually drops at night, but this is affected too; during certain phases of the menstrual cycle body temperature naturally rises, making it harder to fall into deep sleep. This explains why women often wake feeling unrested even after a full night’s sleep.

Around PMS and perimenopause, fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone alter body temperature, mood, and stress reactivity, leading to more insomnia or lighter, fragmented sleep. Many women report waking up exhausted yet alert, a sign that cortisol stayed high overnight, keeping the body in a semi-stress state even during rest.

Men: Stress in the Body, Not the Mind

On the other hand, men’s sleep tends to be more steady, but physical and lifestyle factors often disrupt its quality.

 

Men are two to three times more likely to experience sleep apnea due to airway anatomy and higher upper-body fat distribution. This causes repeated micro-awakenings that fragment deep sleep without full awareness.

 

Physical manifestations of stress, such as muscle tightness, jaw clenching, or elevated heart rate, are a sign of heightened sympathetic (fight-or-flight) activity, which delays deep relaxation at night. Daily routines also play a part heavy workouts, alcohol, and long work hours can reduce slow-wave sleep, the phase critical for muscle repair and testosterone release.

And in the long run, because deep sleep and testosterone production are deeply linked, even a few nights of reduced sleep can cause significant declines in energy and focus.

Emotional vs. Physical Stress Pattern

While women fall asleep faster, they are usually more light sleepers, and are more likely to wake up and have fragmented sleep. On the other hand, men may not feel as anxious, but they tend to manifest physical stress symptoms. This can include jaw tension (from clenching teeth), elevated blood pressure, and shallow breathing.

Sleep & Recovery — What Changes by Gender?

It’s also interesting to note how sleep cycles vary under the influence of stress, as both bodies aim to complete the stress recovery loop. Here’s a quick breakdown:

These patterns reflect how individual bodies respond to stress. According to a review on sleep and circadian rhythms, such as the one published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) (Mong & Cusmano, 2022), women tend to have a longer duration of REM sleep than men. Since REM sleep is crucial for emotional processing, memory consolidation, and cognitive function, this suggests a higher need for cognitive recovery in women. Meanwhile, men's sleep is more tuned toward deep and slow-wave sleep, to offset physical recovery.

How to De-Stress & Sleep Better: Men vs. Women

Below are practical suggestions tailored to typical patterns — use what fits your body and routine.

Shared Need for Quality Sleep

The way the body recovers can vary significantly; it’s impossible to generalize every man or every woman into a single category. However, what can be agreed on is that sleep is a crucial cog in the recovery wheel, and each individual's body recovers in the way most suited and optimized to its routine and patterns. Overall, deep rest is the universal stabilizer. Prioritize sleep as the foundation of emotional balance, physical repair, and long-term resilience.