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On one hand, that could simply be because partners are simply going to sleep around the same time and being awakened (perhaps by one another) throughout the night, causing them to align.īut even when scientists excluded wake incidents, they still found that 47.5 percent of epochs (small chunks of time within a sleep study that allow scientists to compare stages of sleep) were in sync with one another's. Syncing up sleep – One of the study's more perplexing findings was the emergence of sleep synchronization between partners. The presence of a partner might help to create such a safe environment." "Thus, relaxing and safe environments promote REM sleep. "REM sleep is in fact disturbed and reduced by psychosocial stress," says Drews. The second is psychological: a partner might just make us feel more secure. A partner may help body temperature stay stable, he argues. During REM sleep the body's ability to regulate temperature is impaired. Still, this measure varied a lot by study subject, so it's not a perfect comparison.ĭrews has two working explanations for the reduction of REM sleep disruptions. That translated to longer uninterrupted REM sleep periods - they lasted on average about 22 minutes when partners slept together compared to13.4 when they slept apart. When they slept apart there 8.5 REM sleep disruptions. When couples slept together there were, on average, 5.4 REM disruptions during the night. They did find increases in the amount of REM sleep itself and the architecture of that REM sleep. Yet the scientists found no differences in measures like total sleep time, or how long it took people to fall asleep. When couples slept together, they told scientists that their sleep quality improved. They were given two sets of sheets and two blankets – so cover hogging likely wasn't a huge factor here. The next weekend, they slept in one room in two beds pushed together. One weekend, they slept in two separate rooms in single beds. That means that couples had to sleep in a lab while monitored by scientists (not the most natural place to tuck into bed with your partner).Ĭouples slept in the lab for four nights over two weekends. Eva Blanco / EyeEm/ShutterstockĪ night in the sleep lab – This study tackles the perils of sleeping together with polysomnography, a type of sleep study that records brain waves, movement, oxygen levels in blood. "It might even be very good for you due to the REM-sleep stabilization."Ĭouples who slept together had fewer interruptions in REM sleep compared to when they slept apart. "I would like people to take away that if you want to share a bed with your partner, there is nothing to be said against it. "There is – even in the medical community – the notion that if you sleep with a partner, you might subjectively think that you slept well or better, but objectively, your sleep is more disturbed," Drews tells Inverse. He explains that these findings are a departure from conventional wisdom and previous research on sleeping with a partner.
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Henning Johannes Drews is the study's lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Integrative Psychiatry in Germany. The study was published Thursday in Frontiers in Psychiatry. What's notable is that this overlap significantly increased when the couples slept together, growing to 46.9 percent. Because all humans cycle through sleep stages, that's not especially surprising - there's naturally going to be a little overlap. When partners slept apart they spent about 36.6 percent of the night, moving through sleep stages at the same time. But despite that discombobulation, they entered sleep stages at roughly the same time.
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The nights weren't particularly tranquil: The couples also moved more when they slept together compared to when each person slept alone. Co-sleepers also had longer, undisturbed fragments of REM sleep when they slept together. During REM sleep, processes like dreaming and memory consolidation kick into gear. In a sample of 12 heterosexual couples who have been a couple for an average of 23.5 years, scientists found that sleeping together was linked to 10 percent more REM sleep compared to sleeping apart. New research suggests that the trials of sharing a bed are actually worth it, especially when you both doze off. Sleeping with a partner requires navigating cover sharing, different bedtimes, and changing wakeup schedules.