Sharing a bed

Sharing a bed with a partner or pet has pluses and minuses, and the research is thin. Separate duvets, earplugs and a dog off the bed are easy fixes to try.

• Evidence: Weak
• Low effort
• Low cost
• Works: tonight

Why it matters

Sleep is usually shared with a partner, yet researchers have traditionally studied it one person at a time [5].

A partner can disturb you: they move, get up at different times, snore, and like a different temperature. But sharing a bed may also have benefits. In a sleep-lab study of 12 young, healthy couples, sleeping together rather than apart gave about 10% more REM sleep, with fewer breaks in it. Partners also moved their limbs more in their sleep, and their sleep stages lined up more closely. Other sleep stages didn’t change [1]. That’s one small study of couples with an average age of about 23, so treat it as a hint, not a rule.

Snoring is the clearest problem. In a study of 10 married couples, where one partner (all men) was being tested for sleep apnea, the other partner’s sleep efficiency rose from 74% to 87% once the snoring and breathing pauses were treated with a breathing machine (CPAP) halfway through the night [2].

How to do it

1. Use two duvets. One each, often called the Scandinavian setup. You stop pulling covers off each other, and each person can pick a weight that suits them. The air under your covers is what your skin feels, and bedding sets it [6]. We found no study testing two duvets against one, so this is a low-cost thing to try, not a proven fix. See duvet weight and layering.
2. Choose a bigger bed or a mattress that limits movement if a restless partner wakes you. See mattress firmness.
3. Handle different schedules. The later sleeper can get ready in another room and use a dim light. The earlier riser can use a vibrating alarm.
4. For snoring, use earplugs and talk about it. See noise and earplugs. If your partner snores loudly, stops breathing or gasps in their sleep, or is very sleepy in the day, they should see a doctor. Treating it can help both of you [2]. See when to see a doctor.
5. Give the dog its own bed in the bedroom. In a study of 40 healthy adults wearing activity trackers for a week, sleep efficiency was fine with a dog in the bedroom but lower when the dog was on the bed [3].
6. Watch the cat. In a survey of 962 US women, cats in the bed were rated as disruptive as a human partner, while dogs in the bed were rated as less disruptive than a partner [4].
7. Separate rooms are fine if nothing else works. No good study shows harm, and good sleep for both of you matters more than where you sleep.

Common mistakes

• Assuming your partner is the problem. Try the fixes above for a week before moving out of the bedroom.
• Treating snoring as just a noise problem. Loud snoring can be a sign of sleep apnea, which needs a doctor [2].
• Letting a pet set your wake time. If the dog or cat wakes you early, feed and walk them on a fixed schedule and keep them off the bed.

Effect on your sleep score

• REM: about 10% more when couples slept together in one lab study [1].
• Efficiency and wake-ups: a snoring partner with sleep apnea cut the other partner’s efficiency a lot in a small study [2]. A dog on the bed lowered efficiency compared with a dog elsewhere in the room [3].
• Movement: partners moved their limbs more when sleeping together [1].
• HRV, heart rate, deep sleep: we found no study measuring these in healthy adults with wearables.

How confident: low. These are small or survey-based studies.

Evidence

Rated Weak. The couples study had 24 people, all young and healthy, sleeping in a lab [1]. The authors note that before it, only two sleep-lab studies had compared couples sleeping together and apart. The snoring study had 10 couples and one night each [2]. The dog study measured sleep with wrist devices but had no comparison group without dogs, and most participants were women [3]. The pet survey relied on what people reported, and nearly all participants lived with pets [4]. Nobody has tested split duvets. If something in your bed keeps waking you, your own sleep diary is as good a guide as the research.

General information for healthy adults, not medical advice. If you have a sleep problem that lasts, read when to see a doctor. Sources checked 4 October 2026. Spot a mistake? Tell us.