Those who prefer to sleep alone rather than put up with their partner’s snoring, kicking or grabbing of the doona are in for a surprise, if the latest research is on the money.
The University of Arizona in Tucson analysed 1,007 working-age adults from south-eastern Pennsylvania in a Sleep and Health Activity, Diet, Environment, and Socialisation study and found those who sleep with a partner nodded off more quickly, and were less likely to experience insomnia or general fatigue.
In fact, people who shared a bed with a partner also remained asleep longer. Mentally it was better with lower rates of depression, anxiety and stress.
“Sleeping with a romantic partner or spouse shows to have great benefits on sleep health, including reduced sleep apnoea risk, sleep insomnia severity and overall improvement in sleep quality,” said lead author Brandon Fuentes, an undergraduate researcher at the university’s department of psychiatry.
However, the study also found that an adult sleeping with a child suffered badly with increased stress, less social support and worse life and relationship satisfaction.
“Very few research studies explore this, but our findings suggest that whether we sleep alone or with a partner, family member, or pet may impact our sleep health,” said senior study author Dr Michael Grandner, director of the university’s Sleep and Health Research.
“We were very surprised to find out just how important this could be.”
The researchers asked participants to fill out surveys on topics related to bed sharing, such as how often they shared a bed with a spouse or partner, child (or children), pets or family members — or how often they slept alone. The study also assessed sleep health factors using tools like the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Insomnia Severity Index and STOP-BANG apnea score.
The research was presented last week in the annual meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.
