How Sleeping Next to Your Partners Can Improve Your Health and Wellbeing
In addition to learning how to fall asleep despite their snores and tossing-and-turning, sleeping next to a partner may entail endless tugs-of-war for the shared blanket in the middle of the night. However, the practice's effect may not be as disruptive as it appears to our conscious mind at first glance.
Sleeping next to one’s partner might entail endless tugs-of-war for the shared blanket in the middle of the night — besides learning how to fall asleep despite their snores and their tossing-and-turning, of course. But the effect of the practice may not be as disruptive as it appears prima facie to our conscious mind. According to a new study, falling asleep next to the one we love can also have a range of benefits for both our physical and emotional wellbeing.
Published in Oxford Academic’s Sleep and presented at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, the study found that compared to sleeping alone, sharing a bed with one’s romantic partner can reduce anxiety and depression. In addition, it was also found to help people not only fall asleep faster, but also sleep longer. Naturally, then, People also reported feeling less fatigued after a night of sleeping next to their partner.
The practice of going to sleep next to one’s partner not only improved people’s sleep quality, but also reduced the severity of insomnia some may experience, alongside their risk of sleep apnea.
Prior research also suggests a plethora of benefits attributable to sharing a bed with the person one loves. “Sleeping with your partner also stimulates the release of a cocktail of chemicals that can help you get a great night’s sleep,” Tim Gray, a biohacker and psychology specialist, had said. According to Gray, the chemicals — hormones, really — that form the cocktail include oxytocin (the “love” hormone), and serotonin (the “feel-good” hormone), among others. Reportedly, a high level of oxytocin can also reduce people’s blood pressure.
