A recent study has revealed that couples who sleep in the same bed wake each other up an average of 6 times a night. When someone tugs at the covers, rolls over, or kicks their legs during the night, it can have a profound effect on their spouse. While these disturbances are often brief and forgotten by morning, they could be impacting your sleep more than you realize. The findings come amid a growing trend that’s been dubbed “sleep divorce.” As the name suggests, couples are choosing to sleep in separate beds — sometimes even separate rooms — to maximize their shut-eye. While this might sound like a slippery slope that could lead to full-blown divorce, it’s actually beneficial and could even save some marriages. According to sleep experts, separate sleeping arrangements allow each person to optimize their own sleep environment. That might include choosing a different mattress or bedding, adjusting light levels, controlling room temperature, or even changing the air quality in the bedroom. The sleep lab study revealed that the average couple experiences 51 leg movements per night, which joins snoring and insomnia as the top reasons for sleep disturbance in couples. Although sleeping in separate beds or rooms might be seen as a sign of relationship trouble, experts say that’s not the case. If a spouse’s sleep behavior is constantly disrupting sleep, the health benefits of sleeping separately outweigh the drawbacks.
