While pets provide many health benefits during the day, they can interfere with your sleep quality if they sleep with you.
- In the study, 47.6% of participants reported sharing the same bed or room as their pet for at least part of the night.
- People sleeping with their pets had poorer sleep quality and more symptoms of insomnia.
- Cats have fewer negative effects on sleep than dogs.
Your dog may not be the best sleeping partner. This is the observation made by researchers at Trinity College in Hartford (United States). In a recent study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, they wanted to know if sharing your bed or room with your pet could prevent you from sleeping well. To do this, the team recruited 1,591 people who completed questionnaires assessing their sleep habits. It also took into account the number of owners’ pets, the type of animal and the relationship to it.
Sleeping with your dog causes insomnia symptoms
Overall, about half of participants reported sleeping with pets, which is sleeping in the same bed or room for at least part of the night. According to the work, volunteers who slept with animals had poorer quality sleep and more symptoms of insomnia. “Although higher stress levels are associated with poorer sleep quality, we did not observe a buffering effect of stress from sleeping shared with pets,” the authors clarified. When it came to pet type, they found that spending the night with your dog had a negative impact on sleep. However, this has not been observed with cats.
In a publication of The Conversationscientists say this study provides new evidence, but it has limitations. “An important factor that our research did not assess was whether people also slept with other people, such as a spouse or child. Previous cohorts suggest that sharing a bed with other people may also affect our sleep and that the mental health benefits of pet ownership may be greater for people with a partner.”
Sleep: choose a mattress large enough for you and your pet
If dog owners are unable to stop sleeping with their animals, American researchers recommend choosing a sufficiently large mattress and washing and changing your bedding regularly. Another tip: establish and maintain a consistent bedtime routine with your pets. According to the team, further research is needed to identify more specific habits and routines that pet owners can adopt to ensure a good night’s sleep when sharing a bedroom with their pets.
