Abstract
Couples sleeping in pairs is a modern phenomenon with potential side-effects on sleep structure and circadian rhythms. In order to examine its effects, 10 healthy heterosexual couples with stable relationships who regularly sleep apart or together in their home environments were recruited. The participants were asked to spend at least 10 nights alone and 10 nights together over the course of the study. Their sleep was monitored over 28 days in their homes with actigraphic techniques and sleep diaries. Group analyses were performed on their sleep efficiency and subjective sleep quality according to sleep condition. The daily variations in sleep fragmentation indices of the partners were used as a measure of their nocturnal activity synchronization. Sharing a sleeping space with a partner had negative effects on sleep in women, as documented in the actigraphic measurements of sleep efficiency and subjective assessments of sleep and awakening quality. Sexual contact mitigated the negative subjective report, without changing the objective results. Subjective assessments of sleep quality were lower in men than women when sleeping alone. They increased to the same level as women while sleeping in pairs with or without sexual contact. The sleep efficiency in men was not reduced by the presence of their partner unless sexual contact occurred. Analyses of sleep fragmentation showed that there was no synchronization of deviation from the norm levels between the partners on individual nights either when they slept alone or in couples. The sex differences in the nocturnal sleep reactions to partner presence may be attributed to sex-specific behavioral traits associated with cultural norms or parenting in women and the desire for group sleep in men.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Jenni OG, O’Connor BB. Children’s sleep: an interplay between culture and biology. Pediatrics 2005; 115: 204–16.
Hicks RA, Pellegrini RJ. The changing sleep habits of college students. Percept. Mot. Skills 1991; 72: 1106.
Iglowstein I, Jenni OG, Molinari L, Largo RH. Sleep duration from infancy to adolescence: reference values and generational trends. Pediatrics 2003; 111: 302–7.
Aubert V, White H. Sleep: a sociological interpretation I. Acta Sociol. 1959; 4: 46–54.
Aubert V, White H. Sleep: a sociological interpretation II. Acta Sociol. 1959; 4: 1–16.
Schwartz B. Notes on the sociology of sleep. Sociol. Q. 1970; 11: 485–99.
Gleichmann PR. Einige soziale wanderungen des schlafes. Z. Soziol. 1980; 9: 236–50.
Taylor B. Unconsciousness and society: the sociology of sleep. Int. J. Polit. Cult. Soc. 1993; 6: 463–71.
Williams S. Sleep and Society. Sociological Ventures Into the (Un)k nown. Routledge: London, 2005.
Ekirch AR. Sleep we have lost: pre-industrial slumber in the British Isles. Am. Hist. Rev. 2001; 106: 343–86.
Worthman CM, Melby MK. Toward a comparative developmental ecology of human sleep. In: Carskadon MA, ed., Adolescent Sleep Patterns: Biological, Social, and Psychological Influences. Cambridge University Press: New York, 2002; 69–117.
Wulff K, Siegmund R. Circadian and ultradian time patterns in human behaviour: part 1: activity monitoring of families from prepartum to postpartum. Biol. Rhythm Res. 2000; 31: 581–602.
Meadows R. The negotiated night: an embodied conceptual framework for the sociological study of sleep. Sociol. Rev. 2005; 53: 240–54.
Monroe LJ. Transient changes in EEG sleep patterns of married good sleepers: the effects of altering sleeping arrangement. Psychophysiology 1969; 6: 330–7.
Pankhurst FP, Horne JA. The influence of bed partners on movement during sleep. Sleep 1994; 17: 308–15.
Oakley NR. Validation with Polysomnography of the Sleep-watch Sleep/Wake Scoring Algorithm Used by the Actiwatch Activity Monitoring System. Mini Mitter: Bend, OR, 1997.
Kushida CA, Chang A, Gadkary C, Guilleminault C, Carrillo O, Dement WC. Comparison of actigraphic, polysomnographic, and subjective assessment of sleep parameters in sleep-disordered patients. Sleep Med. 2001; 5: 389–96.
Rosenblatt PC. Two in a Bed: The Social System of Couple Bed Sharing, State University of New York Press: New York, 2006.
Saletu B, Klösch G, Gruber G, Anderer P, Udomratn P, Frey R. First-night-effect on generalized anxiety disorder-(GAD) based insomnia: laboratory versus home sleep recordings. Sleep 1996; 19: 691–7.
Saletu B, Wessely P, Grünberger J, Schultes M. Erste klinische Erfahrungen mit einem neuen schlafan-stoßenden Benzodiazepin, Cinolazepam mittels eines Selbstbeurteilungsbogens für Schlaf- und Aufwachqualität (SSA). Neuropsychiatrie 1987; 1: 169–76.
Pesarin F. Multivariate Permutation Tests with Applications in Biostatistics. Wiley & Sons: New York, 2000.
Benington JH, Heller HC. Restoration of brain energy as the function of sleep. Prog. Neurobiol. 1995; 45: 347–60.
Maquet P. The role of sleep in learning and memory. Science 2001; 294: 1048–52.
Meadows R, Venn S, Hislop J, Stanley N, Arber S. Investigating couples’ sleep: an evaluation of actigraphic analysis techniques. J. Sleep Res. 2005; 14: 377–86.
Hislop J, Arber S, Meadows R, Venn S. Narratives of the night: the use of audio diaries in researching sleep. Sociol. Res. Online 2005; 10: 1–16.
De Waterman AL, Kerkhof G. Sleep-wake patterns of partners. Aviat. Space Environ. Med. 1994; 65: 654–60.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dittami, J., Keckeis, M., Machatschke, I. et al. Sex differences in the reactions to sleeping in pairs versus sleeping alone in humans. Sleep Biol. Rhythms 5, 271–276 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1479-8425.2007.00320.x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1479-8425.2007.00320.x