The Truth About Sleep Divorce

The word ‘divorce’ conjures images of an unhappy couple heading for tough times and permanent separation.

However, there’s one ‘divorce’ couples might consider that can keep a relationship on track—and possibly make it better.

A sleep divorce is when a couple consciously and happily chooses to sleep in separate bedrooms or separate beds, some nights or every night.

Many might wonder why a couple would want to sleep separately. Don’t all happy couples snuggle next to each other each night in blissful slumber? Well, some couples do, but many couples don’t easily share a bed.

The problem is that not every couple is ‘sleep compatible’. Couples discussing their sleep needs is not common, thanks to decades of being conditioned and socialised about how to behave in the early stages of a relationship.

Initially, it’s all the good stuff that helps couples bond with each other, leaving the practical (and not so sexy) details for later.

So, the topic of sleep disturbance rarely comes up until it becomes an issue. And in the early stages of a relationship, sleep is often the last thing a couple thinks about when they hop into bed.

But when the early days of passion give way to the deeper stage of companionship, some couples find that one (or both) of them is sacrificing sleep for the sake of sharing a bed.

It’s well known how critical diet and exercise are to good health, and in the last decade, an understanding of the critical importance of sleep has become more apparent.

It’s been the awakening (pardon the pun) to start focusing on what is needed to get good-quality sleep every night.

Forget Romantic Ideals

Could sleeping apart be the most loving thing you can do for your relationship (and your sanity)?

Do you need a Sleep Divorce?

Sleep deprivation exposes people to a long, frightening list of health risks, so a balance in managing health with managing close relationships is required.

So, what’s to be done when a loved one snores, tosses and turns, wants to sleep to the sound of whale cries, or wakes up throughout the night, waking their partner too?

It’s time to rethink what bed sharing means in a relationship. That’s all.

Historically, sleep was a functional activity. Western culture has been seduced by bed-sharing couples on TV and in the movies, and couples have lost their way when it comes to focussing on the actual reason they head to a bed every night.

While the term ‘sleep divorce’ can sound scary, couples sleeping separately is more common than people think.

Royalty do it, celebrities do it, and a quick chat with family and friends will reveal that lots of them do it too.

For some couples, a sleep divorce might just be the divorce that’s going to keep them together.

 

For some couples, heading to separate beds or rooms is a no-brainer. For others, it can look and feel like the beginning of the end. A ‘Sleep Divorce’ sounds scary, but it doesn’t need to be. Hundreds of thousands of couples across the world have healthy, happy relationships, but they don’t share a bed every night.

This book will help you understand why sleep is so important, why you need to prioritise it, how sleep has evolved throughout history and brought us to thinking we must share a bed every night.

This is a practical guide, backed by science and first-hand interviews, to help you navigate your way to a great night’s sleep without compromising any aspect of your relationship.