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Married couples are more likely to go to sleep and wake up at the same time if the wife is happy with the relationship, research suggests. Happy wife, happy life, right?
"Most of what is known about sleep comes from studying it at the individual level; however, for most adults, sleep is a shared behavior between bed partners," lead study author Heather Gunn, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Pittsburgh, says in a statement. "How couples sleep together may influence and be influenced by their relationship functioning." For example, couples who get too little sleep may be more likely to fight, according to a previous study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
In Gunn's study published in the journal Sleep, researchers asked 46 married couples questions about their relationship quality. The investigators also asked all study participants to wear sleep trackers for 10 days to observe their sleep and wake patterns. The scientists then calculated how synced the couples' sleep schedules were based on the sleep-tracking data they had collected.
Overall, the couples tended to be awake and asleep together about 75% of the time. The happier the wife was with the marriage, the greater the synchrony between her and her husband's sleep schedule. The findings suggest that "our sleep patterns are regulated not only by when we sleep, but also by with whom we sleep," says Gunn.
Wives and husbands are synchronized in other ways, too. For example, they often share certain health behaviors such as exercise and dietary habits, according to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE. They also tend to be in tune with each other's moods and emotions, according to an analysis of previous studies published in the journal Emotion Review.
To boost marital happiness, spouses should make sure to get enough quality sleep. In a study published in the Journal of Family Psychology, scientists concluded couples felt more satisfied with their marriages on days following more shut-eye. Do you agree?
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