Sleep Professionals Can Help Marriages
There are millions of couples who have sleep issues. Take the example of a middle aged teacher and her partner. Janelle is a classified as a sleep thrasher, which means that she hits her partner every now and then when sleeping. Her partner Christopher is a talker which wakes Janelle very so often in the night. This situation is not uncommon. A survey conducted in 2005 showed that over a quarter of American couples lack sleep because of their partner’s sleep issues. Moreover, a quarter of couples sleep in a separate bed or bedroom mainly because they cannot sleep well. The study was conducted by the National Sleep Foundation.
According to professor of history and family studies Stephanie Coontz as quoted in the Huffington Post, marital privacy is a contemporary practice. Throughout the 1800s, married couples had separate bedrooms because women were perceived to be clean and pure. However, during the 1900s, this practice was no longer made. The most couples did was to have separate beds in their bedroom. Separate beds were taken as a sign of problems with the relationship and sexual intimacy.
Partners and bed mates now have other issues that relate to the need for sufficient sleep. The loss of sleeping hours due to a partner’s sleep disorder can lead to health issues like heart ailments, diabetes and depression. Sleep is so important that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have highlighted this as an important public health issue.
Millions of couples attribute sleep disorders like restless leg syndrome (RLS) and also sleep apnea as the cause of the lack of rest and adequate sleep hours. When a partner has insomnia, this can also cause the other one losing sleep. Nearly 10% of Americans suffer from this sleep disorder. Of course, there are other contributing factors that bring about sleep deprivation like schedules or environmental concerns. One partner may want to sleep in a soft bed whereas the other partner wants a hard one or one does not like air conditioning and the other cannot sleep in a warm room. These night time sleep habits
A sleep specialist from the New York Sleep Institute, Rebecca Scott, recommends that when this sleep deficiency is causing damage to the couple’s quality of life, they should seek go for medical help and that they should go to the doctor as a couple.
There are sleep experts who can help people with their issues. Sleep disorders can be monitored and verified as to what type of disorder is happening to the patient. Insomnia sufferers can have medication and behavior therapy. Those who have sleep apnea can have a CPAP machine to help them breath and sleep better. Couples who may not have sleep disorders, a compromise can be made.
The sleep environment also plays a crucial role in a couple’s nighttime habits. The room must be both extremely quiet as well as be dark without any intruding lighting. The bed must be comfortable enough. Having separate beds can be a temporary solution but the experts say that this should not be a long-term solution. Although there are studies that indicate that sexual and intimacy cases became better when having separate beds, it may not be the ultimate solution.
