Sleep crisis and feminised consumption of hypnotic drugs: experiences of women in Uruguay

Abstract

In recent decades, both academic and non-academic circles have insisted on the existence of a global ‘sleep 
crisis.’ In medical consultations, sleep disturbances and lack of rest appear as a recurring problem, which is associated with an increasingly widespread consumption, particularly among women, of hypnotic drugs such as benzodiazepines and z-drugs. In this article, we address the experiences of 35 women who use hypnotics to treat chronic or occasional sleep problems, all residents of Montevideo (Uruguay), where the consumption of these drugs has increased in recent years. Based on our analysis, we found that women’s relationship with sleep and hypnotics is a contradictory phenomenon that places men’s sleep as the ideal, is sustained by exchanges with other women, and is linked to social expectations about how women should rest and solve their sleep problems.