RSS
Home
Quality of marriage affects sleep and vice versa
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Ladies? For better or for worse, the state of your union may also affect the quality of your sleep.
A study led by Wendy Troxel, PhD, Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that women who were in stable marriages had the highest quality sleep even after taking into account those factors that typically affect a woman’s sleep such as age, socioeconomic status, and depressive symptoms.
The study also revealed that women who had ‘gained’ a partner during the eight years of the study reported a better sleep than women who were unmarried or who had lost a partner over the course of the study follow-up. However throughout the course of the study, it was discovered that women who had gained a partner within the more recent years had more restless nights than the always married women.
“We speculate that these findings may reflect a ‘newlywed effect’ or simply the fact that these women may be less adjusted to sleeping with their partner than the ’stably married’ women,” says Troxel.
The study gathered data from 360 middle-aged African American, Caucasian, and Chinese participants who reported their current relationship status at annual visits. According to Science Daily, “In-home polysomnographic (PSG) sleep studies were conducted over three successive nights 6 to 8 years after baseline. Subjects also wore wrist activity monitors, which provide a behavioral measure of sleep-wake patterns, for approximately one month. Researchers examined the association between women’s relationship histories and their sleep by analyzing the sleep differences between women who were stably married, stably unmarried, or those who experienced a relationship transition (gaining or losing a partner) over the study follow-up period.”
Last year Troxel revealed findings on another study which focused on 1,938 married women in the mid-life age range. According to the results, higher levels of marital happiness were associated with a lesser risk of having multiple sleep complaints. The results showed that divorced women tended to have more sleep problems than those who were married.
Michael Breus, Phd also address this issue in his book Good Night: The Sleep Doctor’s 4-Week Program To Better Sleep and Better Health. He writes, “Sleep is related to marital satisfaction; in fact researchers are now studying how curing sleep problems leads to marital bliss. At the Sleep Disorders Center at Rush University Medical Center, scientists are evaluating the impact of sleep disorders – particularly sleep apnea – on marital satisfaction and whether or not treating more cases successfully can affect the divorce rate. In general, couples with lower marital satisfaction are more likely than their counterparts to reporter symptoms of insomnia and daytime sleepiness and they’re getting less sleep than they did five years ago.”
“It’s the ‘chicken and the egg,’ (situation)” commented Dr. Oscar Schwartz when asked about the findings. Schwartz is the medical director of the Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital Sleep Disorders/EEG Center.
According to Schwartz, “Eighty five percent of insomnia cases are attributed to an underlying cause like stressful lifestyle or a mental illness.” He adds, “There can be hidden factors. Sometimes it takes some digging. At times, multiple factors perpetuate a problem.”
According to Schwartz, part of the reason insomnia can become a problem within the marriage is that, “there can be a lapse in social interaction. We get grumpy when we’re sleep deprived. Sometimes people with insomnia even start to withdraw socially.”
But there are some ways to help those in need get a more meaningful sleep. Want a few tips? You'll have to stay tuned!
Thanks to Dr. Oscar Schwartz, who specializes in sleep disorders including sleep apnea, cataplexy, sleep paralysis, narcolepsy and insomnia. His office is located at 969 Mason Road, Suite 250, St. Louis, MO 63146. He can be reached at 314-878-4699.
(This article has been cross posted at www.StLFamilyLife.com)
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
