Relationships can affect mental health, and some studies suggest that couple sleeping together can regulate relationships. Sleeping with a partner is of great interest because it extends the interaction into the late night. However, the actual impact of couple sleeping together remains an open question, with little research to date and often conflicting conclusions.
How does sleeping in separate beds and sleeping in the same bed affect the sleep of both you and your partner?
On June 25, 2020, researchers from Kiel University in Germany published a research paper titled: Bed-Sharing in Couples Is Associated with Increased and Stabilized REM Sleep and Sleep- Stage Synchronization online in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry.
The study showed that couple sleeping together helps you sleep better and were less prone to outside disturbances than sleeping in separate beds.
Benefits To Couple Sleeping Together: Better Health
It’s well known that romantic relationships can affect each other’s psychological state, and scientists believe that couple sleeping together may regulate a partner’s mental health.
Previous research studies have shown that when partners sleep in the same bed, both partners sleep longer overall compared to singles.
Is it true that sharing a bed with a partner does seem to improve a relationship and each partner’s sleep?
In a study of heterosexual couples, researchers in Germany found that sleeping together allowed couples to spend longer periods of REM sleep and be less disturbed by REM cycles. Partners can also alert each other to issues such as sleep apnea or snoring, which can affect health and longevity.
Benefits To Couple Sleeping Together: More Sleeping Positions
Interestingly, the researchers found that couple sleeping together had more sleeping positions. However, these sleeping positions do not disrupt sleep architecture, which means that when sleeping with someone, your body may move erratically, but your brain is awake.
The researchers point out that this couple effect, it could be used as an effective treatment for sleep disorders, such as insomnia.
Dr. Henning Drews said: “There are benefits to couple sleeping together, which can benefit your mental health and even boost your memory and creativity!”
In addition, the study suggests that the effect of partners sleeping in the same bed may be more pronounced in the real home environment.
Can The Quality of A Partner’s Sleep Be Improved?
A partner’s relationship may subtly influence how well they sleep together. The study found that those women with higher relationship satisfaction tended to be more in tune with their partners when it came to sleep habits. Plus, the support and warmth we give each other during the day can also predict how well we slept at night.
Conclusion
Not every couple sleeps together. While there are benefits to sharing a bed, getting a good night’s sleep is most important to our long-term health and the health of our relationships.
Do you want to know if you are getting a good night’s sleep? Try Mintal Tracker App to assess your sleep quality.
