Whether it's due to snoring, different sleep schedules, or blanket hogging, couples across America are losing out on precious Z’s due to their other half. So is a “Sleep divorce” the solution? Or is not sleeping in the same bed as your partner still taboo?
Sleep product review website Mattress Clarity ran a national survey of 3,000 people to find out how many couples out there want a sleep divorce, yet are too apprehensive about bringing up the topic with their partners.
The survey revealed that 36 percent of Texans would like to sleep in a separate bed to their partners, if they felt they had the choice. This is higher than the national average of 31 percent. When broken down by gender, the results show that it is more men (41 percent) than women (30 percent) who are pining for their own bed space in The Lone Star State.
You can check how Texas compares to other states with this interactive map.
When asked why they’d like to sleep in a separate bed to their other half, the majority of respondents (39.1 percent) said it was due to having a different schedule to their partner. This was followed by their partner having a sleep disorder such as snoring (30.1 percent), disrupted sleep from sharing a bed with someone (18.5 percent), having different sleep habits to their partner (11.3 percent), and finally the bed being too small for two people (1 percent).
Men said that the main reason they’d prefer their own bed was because sharing with their other half usually results in disrupted sleep, whereas the main reason women want their partner out is due to their sleep disorders, like chronic snoring.
But perhaps space apart may not be a bad thing at bedtime. The survey also revealed that bad co-sleeping has ended a relationship for one in 10 Americans! This comes as no real surprise, however, considering that more than one in five couples get into arguments over each other’s sleeping habits.
Sharing a bed with a partner can clearly cause fatigue as well as arguments, but can a couple survive if they take the leap and get a sleep divorce?
This survey’s results prove they can, with over a quarter of couples (26.5 percent) who do sleep in separate beds stating that their relationship has improved. Women felt much more positive about the sleep divorce situation however, with 33.3 percent saying sleeping in separate beds has improved their relationship, compared to just 11.1 percent of men.
But even if sleeping in separate rooms was a mutual, happy decision, 41.4 percent of Americans would still not want to admit to their friends and family that they were sleeping in a separate room to their partner. Men are more secretive than women on the taboo topic, with a significant 49.3 percent admitting they wouldn’t tell their friends, compared to 34 percent of women.
