""Historically, we have never been meant to sleep in the same bed as each other. It is a bizarre thing to do. "
...what??? Where did that idea come from? Sleeping with other people is as old as humankind. Beds are unnatural, and having nearly enough space and resources to have one bed per person even more so.
I have to say that Dr Stanley sounds like a serious wet blanket. If sleeping together isn't a natural thing to do, then how come almost everybody in almost every culture does it? And how come people crave cosleeping when deprived?
I don't know how humans slept in those hundereds of thousands of years (or millions depending on where you start counting) during which the human race has evolved. What was the climate? How did they defend against enemies? And most importantly, which habits related to sleep affect the likelyhood of procreation most? I must say, I don't know nearly enough to decide whether sleeping close together is the historical norm.
Also to note, the couples who were tested knew that they were sleeping alone because of a test, safe with the comfort that their significant other still loved them. It's a different case when you're sleeping alone and lonely.
Though sex probably has the opposite effect. For example Schrodinger took a vacation with his mistress to work on the wave equation, which he did between lovemaking sessions.
Always minus a month is still always in this kind of context. Otherwise, I would have also meant that Erdös was also on drugs when he was a baby and during his childhood, and I guess it's easy to deduce from context that wasn't the case. I already knew about the one month anecdote but didn't thought it was relevant for my reply.
I'm not usually one to reflexively write off studies, but this sounds like a group of scientists collectively whining about their spouses hogging the blankets.
I agree. You've got only 8 couples over only 10 nights. That's short and a small sample. Also there's no detail on what they did when they slept apart. For example, perhaps the men went off slept in a 5 star hotel and pampered themselves.
Also, this news is from 2006. But it gets worse. If you go find the paper you'll find this abstract:
"Introduction: So far only a few studies (e. g. Meadows et al 2005) have focused on the interrelationship between bedpartners and its effect on sleep and sleep quality. Previous studies were either restricted to women's perceptions and experiences of sleep (Hislop et al 2003) or to interaction between parents and children.
Method: The current investigation examined how sleep and sleep quality is influenced by the presence and absence of the bedpartner over a period of four weeks. Couples were young unmarried students (mean age: 25; range: 22 - 26) with no children and no history of sleep disturbances. All subjects filled in the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), a standardized sleep anamnesis inventory as well as the MEQ- questionnaire to evaluate morning- or evening- chronotypes. Sleep-wake patterns were continuously monitored by wrist-worn actigraphs and all subjects completed a sleep diary including a standardized self-rating scale for subjective sleep and awakening quality every morning. During the investigation period subjects were instructed to spend at least 10 nights together and 10 separately.
Results: Preliminary results from three couples (out of 10) show a significant reduction of subjective sleep and awakening quality in the co-sleeping condition as compared to the nights slept alone. This tendency was observed in females as well as in males. Co-sleeping also reduced objective (calculated by actigraphs) and subjective sleep efficiency (sleep log data) with a more pronounced reduction in females. When sleeping alone women have more sleep epochs associated with movements than men. In nights spent together in both females and males the mean activity score increased but the changes were not significant.
Discussion: The current investigation examines both gender differences during sleep/wakefulness and the physiological and psychological impact each partner has on the other during sleep."
Key phrase: Preliminary results from three couples (out of 10) show a significant reduction of subjective sleep and awakening quality in the co-sleeping condition as compared to the nights slept alone.
That's right. Also, I wonder if they asked these couples whether they usually slept together or not. My own experience suggests that this is all a matter of what you are used to.
The quality of the bed has to be a major factor here. How large is the bed? Is the mattress designed so that one person can toss and turn without disturbing the other? (Most aren't.)
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Hmm... I should probably have more karma before making that joke.