According to a new study, a happy wife may mean shared sleep schedules between couples. Presented at SLEEP 2014, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh found results that suggest when wives are more satisfied with their marriages, couples are more likely to sleep in sync.
“The sleep of married couples is more in sync on a minute-by-minute basis than the sleep of random individuals,” said lead study author Heather Gunn, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar. She continued, saying, “This suggests that our sleep patterns are regulated not only by when we sleep, but also by with whom we sleep.”
46 couples had their sleep data collected by actigraphy for 10 days and completed relationship assessments. For the most part, the synchrony in sleep-wake schedules was very common among the couples, as those who slept in the same bed were awake or asleep at the same time about 75% of the time. When the wife reported being happier in her marriage, the percent of time the couple was awake or asleep at the same time was even greater.
More studies are taking into account that sleep is often a shared behavior between bed partners. Improving sleep habits of one person who shares a bed may easily be transferred to their bed partner. What do you think of the results, are you and your bed partner in sync?
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