Does Sleeping Together Have a Bad Effect on Your Health?
Do you sleep together with your partner who is always snoring and stealing away your blanket? If yes, you may want to think about separate beds, or learn about less radical solutions!
If you are used to sleeping together, changing that could be harmful. (Photoxpress)
At The British Science Festival, Neil Stanley, M. D., from The Surrey University announced that sleeping together may adversely affect your health. Interruptions of sleep, such as snoring or fighting for the blanket, prevent us from drifting into deep phases of sleep.
Did our ancestors sleep together?
Sleeping in double beds is a relative novelty – a side-product of the industrial revolution when many people moved into smaller apartments in cities. Separate bedrooms were rare since very few people could afford them. In the countryside, our ancestors often slept together in one room, many slept in barns or next to the fireplace (think of Cinderella!) as we learn from stories and novels. In those days, they were healthy – or not, which depended on many different factors, among which monotonous (or poor) nutrition is an important factor. The quality of our ancestors’ sleep was positively influenced by hard physical labor in the open (fresh) air and the natural rhythm of sleeping (going to bed early and rising at dawn); sleeping together with snorers probably didn’t affect people much in those days.
Healthy sleep
Doctor Stanley claims that sleeping together in linked to various conditions such as heart diseases, strokes, pulmonary problems, road and work accidents and even with 
divorce. Whenever you want to cuddle up with your partner – do so in one bed and go to sleep in your own. If you sleep together with your partner, you will experience up to 50 per cent more sleep disturbances than people who sleep alone. However, very few couples decide to sleep in separate bedrooms; in Britain, for example, only 8 per cent of people aged from 40 to 60 sleep separately from their partners. Stanley conducted a survey which showed that men’s cognitive ability declines after sleeping together with their partners, while women and their capacities are generally not affected. On the other hand, couples who are used to sleeping together might experience some difficulties when they sleep apart.
Economical solutions for couples sleeping together
If your partner disturbs your sleep, try separate blankets before deciding to have separate beds or even separate bedrooms. At least two possible disturbances will be removed in one move: your individual needs for warmth will be met (by thicker or thinner blankets) and your bodies will no longer overheat while jammed together under one blanket. Nighttime fights for the blanket in half-sleep will definitely come to an end. If your partner snores, buy yourself a pair of earplugs which are an efficient answer to road or railway noise as well.
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