© U-g-g-B-o-y-(-Photograp h-World-Sense-)
It had to come up eventually – how many couples resort to sleeping in separate bedrooms because one spouse is snoring. Hold onto your chin straps, folks, because it’s estimated that as many as 25% of all married couples no longer share a room at night as a result of various sleep disorders.
This information was gathered through three phone studies, two conducted by the National Sleep Foundation (one in 2001 and one in 2005) and a third conducted in 2008 by the Sleep Council of England (source: CNN).
That equates to one in every four adult, married couples sleeping in different bedrooms. Anytime statistics like those come up, I can’t help but try to find “the one”. You know, “the one” out of four couples in my circle of friends who fall into the category of whichever statistic I’ve just run across.
I can’t find them. Considering all the couples I know (where I’m relatively sure I know their sleep habits), not one of them is consistently sleeping in separate rooms.
This means either those statistics are a little bit skewed (granted, they were small in scale and informal), all of the effected couples are clumped outside of my city and social network, or this issue occurs more often in an age range outside of the average age of couples in my “circle”. Actually, this is probably more likely to be the case.
The likelihood of snoring increases as we age. This means that older couples are more likely to have to deal with snoring in their relationship than younger ones. So, after having survived getting to know each other, getting married, establishing a home, having children, raising children, and finally reaching the empty nest stage where couples might have a chance to reconnect and spend more quality time together, they’re shuffling off to separate rooms at night just so they can sleep more peacefully. This seems like kind of a cruel joke, doesn’t it?
It doesn’t have to be that way. Of course, some couples may use snoring as an excuse for sleeping in separate rooms but really they just enjoy sleeping by themselves or there are other, unresolved marital conflicts and it became far easier to use snoring as the scapegoat for separation. That kind of problem needs more help than a snoring solution can provide.
But, for those couples who truly sleep in separate bedrooms because of snoring or the noise of a CPAP machine, there are solutions to try first and it seems worthwhile to try every possible one until you’re sure that nothing can keep the two of you in the same room.
First, make a joint visit to the doctor to get help diagnosing the cause of the snoring. Second, apply anti snoring solutions as suggested by the doctor until you find one that works. Third, cover up the noise.
Huh? That’s right – if you can’t sleep with it cover it up or close it out without sleeping alone.
- Earplugs
- Fan
- White Noise Machine
- Longer Cord for the CPAP machine so you can move it away from the bed
The marital dream of “growing old together” never includes a picture of a couple sleeping in separate rooms. Don’t let it start. Work to find any solution first and when the National Sleep Foundation calls you to be in their next informal interview you can tell them you’re perfectly content sleeping with your spouse whether they snore or not.
