New research confirms what every mom on the planet could have told you. Men sleep right through babies’ cries. The U.K.’s Mindlab hooked up volunteers in a sleep lab to an electroencephalography (EEG) machine and played recorded noises. Turns out that men are most likely to stir over a car alarm, while women react fastest to a baby’s cries. A baby’s cries don’t even make the top ten list for what most disturbs a guy’s sleep.
Here’s what wakes us up:
Men: Car alarm, wind howling, fly buzzing, snoring, noise from drains, crickets chirping, sirens, clock ticking, drilling/workmen, tap dripping.
Women: Baby crying, tap dripping, rowdiness outside, fly buzzing, snoring, drilling/workmen, sirens, car alarm, wind howling, noise from drains.
Mindlab’s Dr. David Lewis, quoted in Britain’s Daily Mail, suggests evolution is at work. Women wake to sounds that represent a threat to their children, while men react to noises that threaten the entire family.
That’s very sweet, but let’s revisit the top noises – i.e. threats to the family – that stir men from sleep: car alarm, wind howling, fly buzzing, snoring, noise from drains. If only their own snoring roused them. Now that can truly terrorize a family.
Photo by Rennett Stowe.
Stephanie Gruner
Stephanie is a writer in London. She’s lived in Tbilisi, Georgia, where (until the Russians bombed in August 2008) she produced a radio show on politics, business, social issues and culture, and in Lucca, Italy where she wrote a travel column for The Wall Street Journal ...
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