Also, unlike human partners, dogs don’t bring noisy and/or bright electronic devices into bed with them at night.”Ī dog might provide psychological comfort by making people feel less afraid of intruders, Hoffman says. “This is not surprising since dogs’ major sleep periods tend to coincide more closely with humans’ than do cats’. “Survey data we collected suggest that dogs commonly rate as better bed partners than cats and human bed partners and may enhance sleep quality,” says Christy Hoffman, a professor of animal behavior, ecology, and conservation at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. Some research suggests sharing a bed with a dog is actually less disruptive than sharing with a human. Spadola is currently researching the impact of pets in the bedrooms of veterans. “We do have research suggesting that sleeping with pets can provide feelings of comfort and security, which in turn can help to lower anxiety and promote sleep,” says Christine Spadola, a counselor at Florida Atlantic University's College of Social Work & Criminal Justice. If you want to let your dog sleep in your bed, it’s OK to do so. People who aren’t sharing a bed with a partner are somewhat more likely to co-sleep with a pet than people who are partnered, research suggests. Not everyone is snoozing next to a fellow human. Richter, who notes that most sleep studies focus on heterosexual partners, adds: “Men usually have better objective sleep quality if they don’t sleep alone." Can you share your bed with a pet?Īt the end of the day, what works for you and your pet is what matters most. “Studies are showing that feel safer sleeping with a partner even if they don't sleep very well,” says Kneginja Richter, a sleep specialist at Paracelsus Medical University in Nuremberg, Germany. Women with partners who snore, for example, are three times more likely to have insomnia than women whose bed partners don’t snore, Troxel says.Įven so, if you ask people whether they like sleeping with a partner, they’ll usually say yes. If one partner has poor sleep, their sleep issues can influence their bedmate. Adults can reap these psychological benefits as well.īut Troxel says people sometimes sleep worse when sharing a bed, pointing to studies that measure motion during the night. Children, for example, often want to sleep with a parent or sibling when they’re afraid. Many people feel secure and comforted by the presence of others during the night. One of the primary ways humans derive a sense of security is through connection, she says. Sleep is a vulnerable state to be in: You’re lying down, semiconscious, with your eyes closed, says Wendy Troxel, a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation and author of Sharing the Covers. Some people prefer sleeping with a partner.īed sharing is somewhat paradoxical when it comes to sleep quality.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |