Bed sharing by couples is 'bad for your health'

[steven johnson]

The Romans considered the secret to a happy marriage to be separate bedrooms. Only poor couples slept together. Apparently there is some truth to the theory.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Beds-through-the-ages

Sleep specialist Dr Neil Stanley told the British Science Festival how bed sharing can cause rows over snoring and duvet-hogging and robs precious sleep.

One study found that, on average, couples suffered 50% more sleep disturbances if they shared a bed.

Dr Stanley, who sleeps separately from his wife, points out that historically we were never meant to share our beds.

He said the modern tradition of the marital bed only began with the industrial revolution, when people moving to overcrowded towns and cities found themselves short of living space.

Bed sharing 'bad for your health'

[luvspeas]

My hubbie snores like a buzzsaw...

and does not believe me when I tell him he does. I don't think I'd like separate bedrooms though.

[ejpoeta]

7. you need to record it and play it back to him. my husband tells me I snore...

i probably do when my nose is plugged up. but so does he. and he has the advantage of being deaf in one ear and he can roll over and have that ear in the pillow. sometimes i think it'd be nice to have my own room and my own bed like I used to when i was young... but I am so used to him being right there that when he goes away for training i have a hard time sleeping.

[imdjh]

1. I've never understood how a couple could share a bedroom.

A bed, for play, yes. Having no privacy at all, no.

[create.peace]

2. we've had this ridiculous conversation before....go to bed...seperately or together...nt

[CrispyQ]

3. My husband sleeps on the floor.

No one believes me when I tell them that, but it's true! When he sleeps on a soft surface like the bed or the sofa, he has problems with his leg during the day. I tease him & call him Uncle Fester.

[Zoeisright]

4. It is true. Married 30 years, sleep separately.

Extremely happy. And well rested.

[iris27]

5. Dr Stanley's got a short view of history.

People in feudal Europe often shared a sleeping space with the entire family...sometimes even bringing pigs and goats inside in the winter.

Besides, sharing a bed can save your life. A couple of years after my grandmother died, my grandfather had a stroke. He lived alone and it took him 3 hours to inch over from where he'd fallen out of bed to the bedside table where he could knock the phone off and call 911. He lived, but many others might not have, and he suffered a lot more neural damage and had a lot more physical therapy to go through than if it had been treated sooner. If my grandma had still been alive, that ambulance would've been there in 20 minutes (rural MO) instead of 3 hours and 20 minutes.

[endless october]

6. i tend to agree.

i thought my parents were weird for doing that, but after my latest relationship, i think they're right.

what can it hurt to have your own private space in your relationship?

[laughingliberal]

8. I have serious sleep disturbances as it is and my husband snores

Neither of us gets much sleep when we try to sleep in the same room. His snoring wakes me up and my kicking him to roll over wakes him up. Separate rooms work much better for us.

[bain_sidhe]

9. K&R & totally agree

I love my hubby very much, but our sleep habits are so different that having separate rooms just works best for us.

And this is a 20 year marriage, still going strong.

[Why Syzygy]

10. I agree.

There are a few exceptions. Some sleeping patterns are compatible. It isn't the norm.

[Warpy]

11. Wealthy couples always had separate bedrooms

and a tour of Newport mansions will confirm that.

The Hayes Office allowed the middle class the relative luxury of twin beds, but they still had to occupy the same room. Having a room separate from the kids was good enough.

The poor have always been crammed in together, whether in multi generational farm dwellings, one room cabins on the frontier, or urban slums.

What changed with the Industrial Revolution was increasing average wealth to the point that even poor working class couples could occasionally afford to sleep separately from their children.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. In traditional Japan, the whole family slept on futons in the same room

One of my classmates asked our first Japanese instructor (who would have been a child in the 1930s) what his parents did about sex. He said he didn't remember being aware of it and had no idea.

By the way, some traditional minshuku (bed and breakfast-type places) in the countryside simply put all the single women in one room and all the single men in another, although private guestrooms have become more common in recent years.