Duvet hogging can take its toll on a relationship – and your night’s sleep, but you may not be aware of it come morning
Shutterstock/Vasylchenko Nikita
Sharing a bed with a partner results in more frequent night-time awakenings compared to sleeping alone. These interruptions are usually brief and forgotten by morning, but solutions exist for those who find them bothersome.
“Research finds that subjectively, people think they sleep better together than when they sleep apart, but when you objectively measure it, there’s more sleep disruption when they sleep together,” says Sean Drummond at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
Investigating how couples’ sleep is affected by sharing a bed, Lionel Rayward from Queensland University of Technology and his team carried out a systematic review of existing research. Their findings indicate that partner disturbance is common during co-sleeping, with 30 to 46 percent of couples experiencing shared movements. This means actions like pulling the covers, rolling over, or kicking a leg often rouse the other person.
For instance, a sleep lab study noted an average of 51 leg movements per night for people sleeping alone, whereas those sharing a bed with a partner averaged 62 movements. This led to two additional awakenings per night, as recorded by scalp electrodes tracking brain activity.
Drummond’s team also conducted a study where couples wore movement-detecting smartwatches while sleeping together at home. The data showed participants were awakened six times nightly due to their partner’s movements, but they typically recalled only one such instance the next day, indicating that most disturbances are minor and have little overall effect on sleep quality. “When both partners are healthy sleepers, these wake-ups probably aren’t a big deal, they just roll over and fall back asleep,” Drummond explains.
Significant sleep disturbances are more prevalent when one partner snores or suffers from insomnia, according to the latest review. “A person with insomnia is more likely to toss and turn, or even if they’re lying there trying to be quiet, it’s hard for them to be perfectly still while they’re awake, so there’s more activity and more likelihood of disturbing their partner,” says Drummond.
These problems can sometimes lead to a “sleep divorce,” where partners choose to sleep in separate beds or rooms to prevent disturbing each other. “There’s nothing inherently unhealthy about sleeping apart, but some couples see it as a defeat to their relationship, and personally, I think it’s a far better idea to try to fix the actual sleep problem,” Drummond adds.
For couples where one partner has insomnia, Drummond and his team have found cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) beneficial, especially when both partners attend the sessions together. Following treatment, both partners typically report improved sleep, he notes.
If the issue is blanket-hogging or differing temperature preferences, Rayward and his colleagues suggest the “Scandinavian method,” which involves sharing a bed but using separate blankets.
To address snoring, treatments include continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines that keep airways open, and “mandibular advancement devices,” mouthguard-like devices that dentists create to move the lower jaw forward. “This moves the tongue forward and creates more space at the back of the throat so it’s easier to breathe in and out and reduces snoring,” explains Amal Osman at Flinders University. For some, snoring occurs only when lying on their back, which can be mitigated by wearing a backpack to encourage side-sleeping, Osman says.
Approximately 80 to 90 percent of couples in the UK and US share a bed, compared to 63 percent in Japan, where mothers often sleep with children in one room while fathers sleep in another.
Historically, communal sleeping has been the norm, providing warmth and security. Some of the oldest known mattresses, such as the 77,000-year-old plant mattresses found in South Africa, were large enough for entire families.
Pre-industrial societies also commonly sleep together. The Hadza people of Tanzania, for example, sleep in family groups within small huts. Research has shown that Hadza adults frequently wake up, with approximately 40 percent being awake or lightly dozing at any given moment overnight, likely to remain alert to potential dangers. Despite these disturbances, they report no issues with their sleep.
Drummond suggests that occasional sleep disruptions should not be a major concern. “The reality is, everybody wakes up a few times every night – nobody sleeps 100 percent of the time.”
Topics:
