Sharing a bed with somebody you ran over hills for looks the most fulfilling thing to do. After all, won’t you be spending time kissing, ...
Sharing a bed with somebody you ran over hills for looks the most fulfilling thing to do. After all, won’t you be spending time kissing, cuddling and sharing your awesome moments together?
On the contrary, the sad reality is that not all these are true. If you have been sleeping alone in bed over the years, you know that sharing a bed becomes another whole new experience.
Couples for that matter may find it hard at first sleeping together. Often times, it needs patience and compromises on their part. It can be challenging to sleep with a partner with loud snores or can’t keep still for a considerable amount of time.
We need to also understand that not everyone has got the same sleeping patterns. Couples may be surprised to find out that their sleep habits are not in sync. One partner could be a night owl while the other could be the typical morning lark.
If a victim already, you know that this isn’t rosy. It affects the quality of your sleep as well as your relationship. If one couple is always sleeping and the other is awake, the wakeful partner could find himself more irritable or blows up over small stuff.
So, how should couples deal with different sleep schedules?
To prevent the mismatch of relationships from ruining your bedtime, couples need to work on a solution that will accommodate both of them. Here are some remedies you may want to consider.
Find a middle ground in your sleep patterns
What happens when one partner stays up to 3AM when the other is sleeping at 10PM? Either way, it is frustrating to both partners.
In fact, trying to create a middle ground in such a huge gap in time is close to impossible. Finding a middle ground could work best if the time difference in your sleeping patterns is an hour or two.
The early sleeper could choose to delay sleep time by 20 minutes. The late sleeper could schedule sleep time that is 20 minutes earlier than their normal sleep time. Gradually, this could work out to make you find yourself in bed at almost the same time.
Make the bedroom conducive for everyone
You may have invested in that latex mattress that takes your sleep to a whole new level. However, this is not enough to make the bedroom environment conducive for everyone. A few more tweaks are necessary.
For instance, if you and your partner sleep and wake up at different hours, it’s no doubt that one partner is always disrupting the other. Applying makeup and moving around the bedroom in search of clothing means disruption to the other sleeping partner.
One easy way to solve this would be the for the early bird to lay out clothing for wearing the next day the day before. Also, consider doing makeup in the bathroom to avoid disrupting your partner.
However, the best way out would be to invest in a bed that comes with a canopy. The canopy should be made of dark, heavy curtains that keep lights of your bed area. Alternatively, you could create a sleeping nook in your bedroom and cover it off from other areas of the bedroom with black curtains.
Respect your partner’s sleep schedule
Being considerate of your partner’s sleep schedule counts in getting quality sleep. It is important that you understand your partner’s sleep needs so as not to disrupt them. Whether its late into the night or in the morning, avoid engaging in activities that are likely to disrupt their sleep patterns.
If listening to music, consider the use of headphones to avoid cranking up the music. Rather than switch off the lights, consider the use of nightlight. It’s less bright and avoids lighting up the room excessively.
Consider the use of separate bedrooms
For married couples living together, such like an idea seems a little bit absurd. How in the world is one expected to sleep separately from their spouse?
It’s common knowledge that to some couples, bedroom time is the time to unwind together and share your time and body.
Conversely, the situation could be different if your sleep habits are not in sync with that of your partner. For this reason, some couples, for the sake of quality sleep choose to have separate bedrooms. This helps them to avoid the disruptions that come with sleeping in the same bedroom.
With that being said, understand that you will have to bear with the cold that comes with sleeping in separate beds. You will also have less time for each other during the night. You want to spend more time with your partner during the day.
According to statistics conducted by the National Sleep Foundation as early as 2005, one in every four American couples sleeps in separate beds. The results of this survey were followed by a similar study in England and Japan which also found similar results as well.
As of writing this article, many home builders are now building homes that can accommodate dual master bedrooms. It’s no longer just about the comfort of sleeping together but also the comfort that comes with sleeping separately.
Let getting good sleep at night be one of your top priorities
If you and your partner have been having trouble sleeping, its time you put more effort into addressing the pertinent issues affecting your sleep together.
Just like working on your education, finances or health care is important, your sleep needs as a couple should be taken care of as well.
The bottom line
Gone are the days when couples had to sleep together in the same bedroom or bed. While sharing a bed is good for couples to bond, it becomes meaningless when they find it hard sleeping because of their different sleep habits. Couples could choose to adjust their sleep times so as to be all in bed at the same time. Alternatively, they could work on having separate beds and spend more time together during the day.
