Picture this, your evening routine begins. You’ve got your earplugs ready and the TV volume on low and you’re mentally preparing for your partner to wake up every hour on the hour due to symptoms like loud snoring, choking or gasping during the night.
If this wasn’t hard to imagine and sounds like reality…you may be on your way to Sleep Divorce.
What’s a “sleep divorce?” It’s when a couple chooses to sleep in different beds to save their marriage, or they end up separating entirely, due to a lack of sleep. The rationale is usually due to untenable arguing, irritation, and resentment that has built up during the relationship, because one partner continually disrupts the other’s sleep. A 2017 study found that couples who get too little sleep (less than seven hours per night) are more likely to have marital spats and become hostile towards one another.
Poor sleep quality and sleep deprivation have also been linked to weight gain, car accidents, poor immune response, depression, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and emotional health issues.
As reality sets in…what’s the next step?
A study has shown that men with untreated sleep apnea were 2.9 times more likely to sleep apart from their wives. Preventing sleep divorce starts with understanding why your partner may be affecting your own sleep and the reason they are having such trouble sleeping themselves. Do they have any symptoms? What is their behaviour like? Does it seem like a sleep disorder to you?
The next step is to see if your partner is suffering from Sleep Apnea.
Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes abnormal breathing during sleep. People with sleep apnea have multiple extended pauses in their breath when they sleep. The average person’s sleep efficiency is closer to 90% percent, while a wife who’s husband has a sleep apnea diagnosis is close to 72%.
Ognomy wants to #EndSleepDivorce. To discuss receiving a sleep apnea diagnosis in more detail, book a video appointment with one of our sleep doctors today. Get back together by getting back to sleep! Ognomy is available on the AppStore or Google Play.
Sources:
https://adventknows.com/blog/what-is-sleep-divorce-5-signs-youre-headed-there/ https://www.healthline.com/health-news/cant-get-shut-eye-sleep-divorce-may-work-for-you https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/02/060202075139.htm https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5337594/ https://bettersleep.org/blog/time-for-a-sleep-divorce/#:~:text=A%20sleep%20divorce%20just%20means,are%20opting%20for%20this%20arrangement. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/8718-sleep-apnea https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-apnea
