Sleeping alone was found to be healthier than sleeping with a partner
American scientists conducted experiments on mice and came to the conclusion that rodents prefer to sleep with other individuals rather than alone. Moreover, sleeping together can be more disturbing than sleeping alone. Researchers believe that animals "sacrifice" healthy sleep in the name of physical contact. Similar processes, according to scientists, may occur with humans.
From an evolutionary point of view, sleep is a vulnerable state. The mind can keep you from sinking into it until it feels there is no danger. One way to trick the brain is through physical contact with a trusted and loved partner. Previous studies have shown that women who are happily married sleep better than single ladies or those who have an unsatisfying relationship with their spouse. The fact is that physical intimacy with a loved one can stimulate the production of oxytocin, which promotes feelings of calmness and relaxation. All this has a beneficial effect on sleep.
But not always sleep with a partner can bring joy. Especially often it happens in the case of a difference in biorhythms, because if you are a lark, your other half may be an owl. In this case, sleep will be disturbed in one way or another in both. In others, sleep can be interfered with snoring partner or his restlessness at night.
Scientists from the University of Michigan (USA) conducted an experiment on mice and came to the conclusion that sleeping alone was still healthier than sleeping with a partner. The study was published in the journal Current Biology. The scientists used wireless neurophysiological devices to video monitor several rodents simultaneously over the course of a day.
The researchers noticed that the mice craved physical contact with each other before they fell asleep: they snuggled up to other individuals. The scientists called this phenomenon somatolongia - motivation for prolonged physical contact. At the same time, the animals had a choice: to sleep together or alone (they were equipped with comfortable individual sleeping places). Despite this, the rodents still chose to sleep together with other individuals. The problem is that in this case, the mice often disturbed each other's sleep - just as it happens in humans.
On the other hand, the scientists found that the mice who slept together showed synchronization in several neurophysiological parameters, including the time of sleep onset, wakefulness and the rapid phase of sleep. Notably, during the so-called rapid eye movement phase, synchronization of rhythms was recorded in co-sleeping brothers, but not in female or unacquainted mice. The researchers concluded that the feeling of safety in sleep controls the degree of synchronization. This is likely to be the case in humans as well.
To reiterate what was said at the beginning: previously, other research groups have found that sleep with a partner can be more fulfilling for people than without one. In this regard, it is unclear to what extent the results of experiments on mice can be transferred to humans. Further research is obviously needed to clarify the issue.