--- title: How does the menstrual cycle affect sleep? | Niyora description: Women with ovulatory cycles sleep longer and have longer REM sleep than those without ovulation, but the five phases of the cycle do not show significant diff url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/women-with-ovulatory-cycles-have-longer-sleep-but-phases-of-their-menstrual-2026/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - How does the menstrual cycle affect sleep? Case-control study, 2026 # How does the menstrual cycle affect sleep? Women with ovulatory cycles sleep longer and have longer REM sleep than those without ovulation, but the five phases of the cycle do not show significant differences in sleep. Whether you ovulate appears to matter more than which cycle phase you are in. Moderate study design 130 women aged 20-35 years old (average age 26.2 years) ## What they did Study of 130 women aged 20-35. Ovulation was detected using LH urine tests. Sleep data were collected using Fitbit Alta HR trackers, which measured total sleep time and sleep stage duration (REM, light, and deep sleep). Sleep was analyzed separately for each of the five menstrual cycle phases. ## What they found Women with ovulatory cycles slept longer and had longer REM phases compared to women without ovulation. No significant differences in total sleep duration or sleep stage distribution were observed across the five menstrual cycle phases among women with detected ovulation. ## What it means for you The presence or absence of ovulation may affect your sleep duration and REM sleep, but being in different phases of your cycle does not appear to change sleep. The study used wearable sleep trackers rather than laboratory sleep monitoring, and included only young women. 130 women studied 5 menstrual cycle phases analyzed 26.2 average age in years ## About the study Original title Women With Ovulatory Cycles Have Longer Sleep, but Phases of Their Menstrual Cycles Do Not Differ in Sleep Characteristics Authors Wachowicz A, Galbarczyk A, Marcinkowska UM et al. Journal American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council Year 2026 Study design Case-control study Participants 130 What was tested None Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70247](https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70247) Original abstract Objectives: Duration and quality of sleep are influenced by many factors, including hormonal changes. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences between the phases of the menstrual cycle in total sleep duration and sleep stage distribution, specifically the duration of rapid eye movement (REM) phase, light, and deep sleep states and compare sleep parameters between ovulatory and anovulatory cycles. Methods: The study involved 130 women aged 20-35 (mean = 26.2 years; SD = 4.14). Ovulation was detected using luteinizing hormone (LH) urine tests. Sleep data were collected using the Fitbit Alta HR trackers, which measured total sleep time and the duration of sleep stages. Sleep parameters were analyzed separately for each of the five phases: menstrual bleeding, follicular, periovulatory, luteal, and premenstrual using repeated measures ANOVA. Differences between ovulatory and anovulatory cycles were assessed using Student's t-test. Results: Women with the ovulatory cycle slept longer and had longer REM phases compared to women without ovulation. No statistically significant differences were observed in total sleep duration or sleep stage distribution across five phases of the menstrual cycle among women with detected ovulation. Conclusion: The findings suggest that ovulatory status might be associated with differences in total sleep time and REM sleep duration, whereas sleep duration and sleep stage distribution across menstrual cycle phases remain relatively constant. These results suggest that the presence of ovulation, rather than phase-specific changes during the cycle, may play a more important role in shaping sleep characteristics. Reproduced under CC-BY. ## Topics [Sleep and insomnia](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-sleep/) Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits. Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor. Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗