Women are grumpier than men after waking up in the morning.

Men know better than to rub their wives the wrong way in the morning and have their heads bitten off, for 6 in 7 women are in a foul mood after waking up.

A new research has found that not only are women grumpier than men, but also that they remain in a foul mood for longer. A survey by The Sleep Council showed a quarter of men never wake up in a bad mood, compared to just one in seven women.

And reeling from a sleepless night, caused mainly by stress and worry, 13 per cent of women remain in a bad mood for up to four hours, compared to ten per cent of men.

Jessica Alexander of the Sleep Council said women's grumpiness may be worsened because they shoulder most of the household chores in the morning.

"Twenty-eight per cent of women as opposed to only 5 per cent of men do any housekeeping before going to work," she was quoted by the DailyMail, as saying.

"It tends to be them that prepares the breakfast, spends time with the children, check their emails and attend to their beauty regime. Women far outweigh men in having a busy and packed morning.

So what do men do? Apparently just get up and go out: 17 per cent of them spend only 10 minutes on their wake up and get out routine," she added.

The survey found that four in ten people believe a disturbed night is the main reason for grumpiness in the morning.

Nearly one in five of the population say they never really get a good night's sleep.