Sleep: we sleep better together than alone, according to scientists

Most adults don’t sleep alone; they share their bed with a life partner, a child, or an overly intrusive pet. According a recent studypresented at the annual congress of theamerican academy of sleep medicine, we would sleep better together than alone – well… it depends with whom! Nearly 1,000 volunteers, working adults living in Pennsylvania (USA), answered an online questionnaire on how often they shared their bed and with what kind of partner: a lover, a child, a other family member, pet or person. They also informed the quality of their sleep.

Sleeping together to sleep better?

Volunteers who slept most nights with a romantic partner reported having less insomnia, sleeping more, falling asleep faster, and with shorter wakefulness periods, compared to those who slept alone. On the other hand, parents who share their bed with a child see the quality of their sleep decrease: more severe insomnia, more fatigue and more frequent falling asleep during the day. People sleeping with another member of their family would also experience these problems, but to a lesser extent.

Spending the night alone is associated with more serious depression, weaker social relationships and a less satisfying life, according to the study results. ” Sleeping with a romantic partner, or a spouse seems to have more benefit on the quality of sleep, reducing the risk of sleep apnea, the severity of insomnia and in general, the quality of sleep said Brandon Fuentes, the study’s first author, affiliated with the University of Arizona.

This study, which contains the classic biases of online questionnaires where volunteers report their health problem themselves, without diagnostic established, is purely statistical and only highlights associations that are difficult to generalize. The people in the panel who slept alone reported more depressive states than the others, this does not mean that all the people who slept alone were, just as it does not mean that all the people who slept together had peaceful nights. The counter-examples are numerous: the partners of snorers or those who like to take the whole duvet probably prefer to spend a night alone.