Researchers from the University of Arizona have, apparently, made their mission to make single people all over the world feel terrible about their life choices, conscious or otherwise.
In a paper presented at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, a research group from the University revealed that they have data that suggests sleeping next to someone, especially your partner or spouse, can have a significant impact on your health and overall sleep quality.
“Very few research studies explore this, but our findings suggest that whether we sleep alone or with a partner, family member, or pet may impact our sleep health,” said Dr. Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona and senior study author. “We were very surprised to find out just how important this could be.”
The data was gathered in a Sleep and Health Activities, Diet, Environment, and Socialization (SHADES) study, which posed a number of questions to 1000 working-age American adults in order to get a better picture of how sleep affects various parts of our health.
They measured insomnia, sleep quality, fatigue, and sleep apnea risks using pre-established indexes for these problems. They also factored in variables like age, sex, race, income, and education to see if it had any effect on the results.
According to the researchers, they discovered that those who answered that they slept next to a partner on ‘most nights’, scored higher on their sleep quality than those who slept alone.
They also discovered that it also hinted at a lower risk of depression and anxiety, compared to those who slept alone more often.
So if you’re someone who prefers to have the option of sprawling across the whole bed without any judgments, you might have to rethink that stance.
