Sleep Divorce
I was chatting to someone recently about sleep (bet you didn't see that coming 😂).
I'm not going to share his real name so lets call him Karl.
Karl was telling me about how much better his sleep is after implementing a few of my suggestions. Then he mentioned he and his partner had been sleeping in different rooms.
And I could tell by the way he said it that he was embarrassed. He referred to this new sleeping situation as SLEEP DIVORCE.
He told me his partner wasn't into it initially because ... "its something people do at the end of their relationship".
Here's the problem as I see it. Sleeping in separate beds or room has this ridiculous stigma attached to it. And the term SLEEP DIVORCE isn't helping.
There are many different reasons partners may choose to sleep in different beds:
Different sleep schedules. This could be due either to work or simply different chronotypes (ie a genetic preference for when someone tends to wake and sleep).
Different temperature requirements. Everyone's preferred sleep temperature varies greatly.
Partner disturbance. Movements by a bed partner can be extremely disruptive to sleep.
I have personally spoken to many people who have made the move to separate beds and 100% of those people have found it beneficial to their sleep and overall wellbeing.
And guess what? After a full week of sleeping separately, Karl and his partner are convinced. "... now she's like good night, closes the door and locks me and the doggos out of the room".
So lets drop the negative stereotype AND while we're at it can we also drop the the stupid name as well? Let's re-name it something positive and affirming ... to reflect the benefit that sleeping separately can have.
Sleep Selection?
Sleep Autonomy?
Proactive Sleeping?
Sleep Decoupling?
Lemme know what you think.
Happy snoozing 💤
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I'm an Adult Sleep Coach who helps people like you leave their struggles with sleep at the bedroom door. Book your free clarity call and start taking control of your health and happiness today.
