There are many benefits of sleeping next to a partner each night, from better quality rest to a closer bond. However, your avoidant ex or that one-night stand probably won’t guarantee a good night’s rest.
According to Dr. Thomas Michael Kilkenny, director of the Institute of Sleep Medicine at Northwell Staten Island University Hospital, “Sleeping in pairs can enhance physical and emotional security.”
Sleeping With a Partner Has Many Benefits—But Your Toxic Situationship Doesn’t Count
“Studies using brain waves showed significantly increased sleep durations when co-sleeping,” Kilkenny told The Post. “The subjects also felt significantly more relaxed after having slept with their partner.”
However, this is really only the case for couples who have a foundation of emotional connection.
On the other hand, “People who slept in the same bed who were not emotional[ly] or socially attached to each other did not demonstrate any of these synchronization patterns,” Kilkenny explained.
So, I hate to break it to you…but if you’re bringing a stranger home from the bar for the night, you likely won’t miraculously get a better night’s rest just because you’re sleeping next to another human. Of course, that doesn’t mean there’s any judgment for doing so—you do you!
But to experience the pros of co-sleeping with a partner, you’ll likely—at the very least—need some sort of prior healthy attachment to them.
And the better your connection is, the more in-tune you’ll become during your sleep, according to Kilkenny.
“Data shows that the heart rhythms of co-sleeping individuals gradually change over the night as a result of the interaction with each other,” Kilkenny continued.
“This phenomenon is thought to be associated with a decrease in stress responses at the neurologic level,” he told The Post. “This finding implies that linked heartbeats during sleep were associated with the mutual interactions of the partner’s nervous systems.”
Honestly, that’s fucking adorable. But again, don’t expect this to happen with, say, your toxic situationship.
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