Is sleeping with a partner more delicious than sleeping alone?
A University of Arizona research team surveyed 1,007 adults and found that adults who shared a bed with a partner felt better sleep than those who slept alone—expressed as milder symptoms of insomnia, Sleep longer and feel less tired. Recently, they announced the results of the study at a conference.
Adults who sleep together sleep better than adults who sleep alone, recent research suggests | Giphy
It makes no sense! Can’t you sleep well as a single dog? Don’t panic, to answer this question, we first need to understand what it means to sleep well.
Measurement of sleep quality
In research on sleep, methods for judging sleep quality can be divided into two categories: one that relies on subjective feelings and the other that is objectively measured .
For the measurement of subjective feelings, it is generally based on questionnaires . The subjects or their partners recall their personal conditions such as fatigue, snoring, sleep time, and the probability of napping on different occasions, and score according to the severity of these conditions. The score on this questionnaire is a subjective quantitative measure of sleep quality.
For the objective measurement of sleep quality, it generally requires the help of instruments , which are often carried out in the laboratory. Researchers can use electroencephalography (EEG) and electro-oculography (EOG) to detect a person’s sleep stages.
Sleep can be divided into two stages – non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM). A full night’s sleep consists of alternating between these two phases, each cycle of about 90 minutes. As sleep stages change, so do people’s heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, breathing, and physical activity. Therefore, the measurement of sleep also includes the detection of these indicators.
Hospitals also have sleep monitoring, which requires wearable devices. Details can be found in Nutshell Patient’s “Staying up all night is refreshing, I have been staying up late and I was “bound by five flowers”|Amu
The results of subjective perception and objective data do not always agree . The University of Arizona study described at the beginning of the article relies entirely on questionnaires, that is, the subjective feelings of the subjects, so the conclusion should not be “people who sleep with their partners sleep better,” but ” sleep with their partners. ” of people feel they sleep better .”
Sleep better with a bed partner? objectively not
So, do you sleep better alone, or do you sleep better with a bed partner?
A bed partner doesn’t have to be a partner, it could be a child, sibling, or even a pet. Professor Rebecca MC Spencer of the University of Massachusetts Amherst conducted a retrospective analysis and summary of related studies and found that compared with people who slept alone, people who slept with a bed partner Subjectively, they thought they slept better , but they generally slept worse when measured.
sleep with partner
According to objective measures, most partners woke up more often when they slept together. Among them, women are affected to a greater extent, perhaps because men perform more movements (such as turning over) during sleep.
However, when asked about their subjective feelings, the men and women surveyed generally agreed that they slept better on their own when they slept with their partner. This may be lying next to a partner and people feel warmer, safer, and calmer .
Feeling warm and calm when someone is sleeping next to you | Giphy
Relationships between partners are also closely related to sleep quality . Couples who sleep well together will also have better relationships; if there is conflict in the relationship, the quality of sleep will also decline. According to the survey, wives and husbands are also more satisfied with their marriage if they have a consistent schedule ; however, husbands’ satisfaction with their marriage does not appear to be related to sleep synchrony.
sleep with child
In order to take better care of the baby, some parents choose to sleep with their children. However, it may be because most of the mothers sleep with their children, and there is a lack of research on fathers in this area. In the mother’s opinion, she may sleep better and cry less when she sleeps with her baby. Objective evidence, however, contradicts this idea.
Both subjective reports and objective measurements of infants and children showed that children slept less and woke up more often when they slept with adults .
You don’t know what the little baby has at night | Poke my heart/Youtube
Correspondingly, sharing a bed with the baby also fragmented the mother’s sleep . Although some mothers believe that sleeping with their baby allows them to perform actions such as breastfeeding, soothing, etc. without being fully awake, and therefore sleep better. But in fact, their sleep was more fragmented and the sleep duration was shorter.
siblings sleeping together
In families with siblings, it is common to share a bed as a child. At present, the scientific research on sibling sleep is insufficient, and the influence of sharing bed on siblings mostly focuses on subjective feelings.
From existing research, children sleeping in a bed can be helpful for building close relationships . Many children think that when they sleep with their siblings, they are no longer afraid of the dark, monsters, and sleep better. If you are awakened by a nightmare at night, you don’t need to run to the next door to wake up your parents, you can be comforted quickly. Of course, when there are brothers and sisters around, children often sleep later because of chatting and playing together .
Children sleep together, no longer afraid of darkness and monsters|Giphy
sleep with pets
If you have pets at home, some owners may choose to sleep with their furry children. With cats and dogs sleeping by your side, tense nerves can also be relaxed.
While most pet owners don’t think their furry children negatively affect their sleep, or even feel that pets can provide comfort and make them sleep better, in reality , owners sleep more often when they sleep with their pets was interrupted .
The routine of animals and the routine of humans are not the same . Taking dogs as an example, unlike human monophasic sleep (sleep once a day), a dog’s sleep pattern is polyphasic, which may go through three sleep/wake cycles in a single night. When the dog wakes up, the noise created can easily wake the owner.
The dog’s routine is inconsistent with the human’s, and the dog will easily wake up the owner after waking up | Giphy
Sleeping with partner’s clothes?
Couples who are accustomed to sleeping together are prone to sleep problems when they are separated. Whether they leave the house or stay alone, both parties report that the quality of sleep has decreased, and when they meet again, they will feel their own Sleep quality improved significantly.
Another study showed that when a partner is not around, their clothing can also improve the quality of sleep. In this study, 155 subjects were given a pair of clothes worn by a partner, clothes worn by a stranger, or new clothes as pillowcases. Although the subjects didn’t know who wore the clothes they were given, those who got their partner’s clothes slept significantly better . This is not only the subjective feelings of the subjects, but the test results of the actigraphy also prove this conclusion.
Sleep with your partner’s clothes, feel safe and sleep well|hindustantimes.com
Therefore, if you want the peace of mind of having your partner by your side, and you want objective high-quality sleep, it is better to try sleeping with your partner’s clothes.
Sharing the same bed, not always
Although in modern life most couples choose to share a bed, this has not always been the case throughout history.
In ancient times, human beings who lived together would choose to sleep together around a bonfire, so that on the one hand, they could hug together to keep warm, and on the other hand, when danger came, their companions could also fight together. In order to keep warm, ancient humans not only hugged each other, but also pulled pets together. There is a saying in English called “three dog night” – three dog night, which means that in extremely cold nights, three dogs need to sleep together to generate enough heat.
However, by the late Victorian era, people gradually realized that personal hygiene and health were inseparable, and in order to maintain cleanliness, the habit of sharing beds between partners, and even sleeping in separate rooms, became popular. Not only that, since one of the partners sleeping in the same bed often slept better while the other slept badly, it was even believed at the time that sharing a bed would cause one to take away the “life force” of the other. As a result, the habit of sleeping in separate beds became more prevalent.
With the development of science, these false theories were eventually falsified, and many couples also returned to the traditions of early human beings and chose to sleep together in the same bed. However, some couples who are in a good relationship will also choose to sleep in separate beds for better sleep quality.
Single people don’t need to panic. After all, although couples feel good about themselves, they don’t sleep so well in objective measurement. No matter how many heads you have on your pillow, it’s important that you wake up feeling good and energized. Then again, what do you think is the most comfortable and best way to sleep?
references
[1] Brandon Fuentes, Kathryn Kennedy, William Killgore, Chloe Wills, Michael Grandner, 0010 Bed Sharing Versus Sleeping Alone Associated with Sleep Health and Mental Health, Sleep, Volume 45, Issue Supplement_1, June 2022, Page A4, https:// ift.tt/KWL96HO
[2] Andre, CJ, Lovallo, V., & Spencer, RM (2021). The effects of bed sharing on sleep: From partners to pets. Sleep Health, 7(3), 314-323.
[3] The Science of Sleep https://ift.tt/szIfnCu
[4] Diamond, LM, Hicks, AM, & Otter-Henderson, KD (2008). Every time you go away: Changes in affect, behavior, and physiology associated with travel-related separations from romantic partners. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(2), 385–403. https://ift.tt/GV9w6Ot
[5] Hofer MK, Chen FS. The Scent of a Good Night’s Sleep: Olfactory Cues of a Romantic Partner Improve Sleep Efficiency. Psychological Science. 2020;31(4):449-459. doi:10.1177/0956797620905615
Author: Hazel
Edit: Small towel, You Shiyou
Source of cover image: Zhanku Hailuo
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