Bye-Bye Honey, Hello Sleep

Sharing your bed may not be good for you physiologically—but the psychological pleasures that come from snuggling up outweigh the restless nights alone.

By Karin Vergoth, published on September 01, 1995 - last reviewed on August 17, 2006

Does your idea of a good night's sleep include the familiar feel of a warm body and the reassuring sound of another's breathing?

While sharing a bed may increase intimacy and give you and your bedmate peace of mind, there's one big thing it doesn't do—guarantee a restful night, A British study finds that couples actually sleep better when they are sleeping alone.

Courtesy of a wristwatch-like device that converts body movements to electrical impulses, researchers monitored the sleep of 56 volunteers on two nights—one when their partners were out of town, the other with them dreaming alongside.

When they had the bed to themselves, sleepers moved less during the night. The researchers weren't terribly surprised: They knew from a previous study that partners trigger a third of the 20 to 60 discrete movements we typically make over the course of a night. So an absent partner meant a smoother night's sleep.

But that's not how the sleepers saw it. "Most couples said they preferred to sleep with their partner even though our evidence suggested they were getting poorer sleep," reports sleep researcher Francesca Pankhurst in the journal Sleep (Vol. 17, No. 4).

Pankhurst, of the University of Brighton, and Jim Horne, of Loughborough University, conclude that the mental benefits of sleeping together outweigh any setbacks. "Psychologically, people probably think they're more at rest, relaxed, and peaceful," Pankhurst asserts. "Maybe they think that being disturbed by their partner is reassuring because they know someone's there."

But don't get your hopes up. When asked, women confided that sleeping with their partner made them feel secure. Men liked it because it was a habit.