Women Sleep Better With Dogs In Their Bed Than With Men In Their Bed
Dogs make better bed partners than men, it’s science
When it comes to who should sleep in bed with women, dogs rule, men drool — it’s science. A new study claims women who share their beds with dogs, rather than human men, get a better night’s rest.
Researchers at Canisius College performed a survey of 962 women living in the United States, and 55 percent say they sleep with at least one dog, while 31 percent say they sleep with one cat by their side at night. And 57 percent say they share their bed with a human partner (obviously not limited to men only — we just like to tease them more).
The study found that dogs who sleep with their female humans were less likely to disturb their sleep than a human bed partner. And when it comes to comfort and security, the study reports dogs deliver where humans fall short: “Compared with human bed partners, dogs who slept in the owner’s bed were perceived to disturb sleep less and were associated with stronger feelings of comfort and security.”
Honestly, all of this makes a lot of sense. My dog is a 95-pound old man who doesn’t like to be disturbed during sleep, and he’s still 10 times more likely to awaken if he hears a suspicious noise or feels unsettled about something. As someone with anxiety who also loves to sleep, this is crucial — my dog can do the legwork while I get some rest.
Because it is an absolute certainty that any number of calamities could occur at night and my husband’s ZzzQuil-induced snore pattern wouldn’t even alter slightly should anything be amiss. My dog? He’s up and at ’em and all over that shit.
The study also reports that dog owners tend to adhere to a more strict sleep schedule and go to bed earlier — because when Rover is ready to snuggle in for a long winter’s nap, so are we. Basically, we’re more in sync with the dogs in our life than the human beings we’ve chosen to share our lives and bedrooms with.
Bad news for all you cat owners out there — there’s a reason they’re called “cat naps” and not “deep-level REM cycles.” Cats are reportedly equally disruptive as human partners (*cough* SNORING MEN *cough*) and cat ladies say they don’t feel as secure at night as those with dogs.
