Why 15 percent of couples are sleeping apart from each other
17-09-2013
When you are in a relationship with someone you know that you are going to spend at least a third of your life together... the third of your life in bed that is. However, while almost every couple enter into a relationship expecting to spend their nights in the same bed, around one in six, or 15 percent, will end up sleep apart. Snoring, insomnia, restlessness, wildly different schedules, farting and reading in the bed... the number of issues that can disrupt our sleep is almost endless and if they are serious enough they will often lead to couples sleeping in different beds and even in different rooms.
One of the joys of being in a relationship should be the time spent in bed, and no we do not mean just the sex. Being in a relationship means that you have got someone to snuggle with on cold nights, someone to talk to when you wake up and someone to spoon. There is nothing like transitioning from time being single to being in a relationship and sharing your bed, it is a great way to develop your bond, it is harder to keep secrets from someone you spend every night in bed with. However, while for most people sharing a bed is part of being in a relationship for one in six something has happened that means that they do not share a bed.
There are many reasons for not sharing a bed with your partner. The most obvious ones all relate to the fact that sometimes sharing a bed with someone can negatively impact on the quality and quantity of your sleep. Your partner may snore, they may restlessly move around all night, they may even fart too much. There are a million and one different things that they could do that cause you to not sleep as well and if that becomes such a problem that it is impacting your life then the only choice might be to get another bed or even room. The only other option is to break up, meaning people will shift rooms rather than shift out all together to save their relationship
Sleep is essential to our physical and mental well being. Even a night’s poor sleep can have a range of impacts on our wellbeing and long term deprivation can be massively problematic, so it is really not surprising that one in six couples do not share the same bed.
There is a down side though, a recent study found that while couples initially decided to sleep apart in an effort to protect their relationship the research has shown that around two thirds of lone sleepers believe that in the long term their separate sleeping has actually had a negative impact on their relationship, specifically making them feel more distant and damaging their sex life.
If you are troubled by your partner at night and are considering moving out of the bed, maybe you should try and fix the problem first, attempt to remedy their issue rather than moving out all together.
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