TY  - JOUR
A1  - Drews, Henning Johannes
A1  - Wallot, Sebastian
A1  - Brysch, Philip
A1  - Berger-Johannsen, Hannah
A1  - Weinhold, Sara Lena
A1  - Mitkidis, Panagiotis
A1  - Baier, Paul Christian
A1  - Lechinger, Julia
A1  - Roepstorff, Andreas
A1  - Göder, Robert
T1  - Bed-sharing in couples is associated with increased and stabilized rem sleep and sleep-stage synchronization
T2  - Frontiers in psychiatry
N2  - Background/Objectives: Sharing the bed with a partner is common among adults and impacts sleep quality with potential implications for mental health. However, hitherto findings are contradictory and particularly polysomnographic data on co-sleeping couples are extremely rare. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of a bed partner's presence on individual and dyadic sleep neurophysiology.
Methods: Young healthy heterosexual couples underwent sleep-lab-based polysomnography of two sleeping arrangements: individual sleep and co-sleep. Individual and dyadic sleep parameters (i.e., synchronization of sleep stages) were collected. The latter were assessed using cross-recurrence quantification analysis. Additionally, subjective sleep quality, relationship characteristics, and chronotype were monitored. Data were analyzed comparing co-sleep vs. individual sleep. Interaction effects of the sleeping arrangement with gender, chronotype, or relationship characteristics were moreover tested.
Results: As compared to sleeping individually, co-sleeping was associated with about 10% more REM sleep, less fragmented REM sleep (p = 0.008), longer undisturbed REM fragments (p = 0.0006), and more limb movements (p = 0.007). None of the other sleep stages was significantly altered. Social support interacted with sleeping arrangement in a way that individuals with suboptimal social support showed the biggest impact of the sleeping arrangement on REM sleep. Sleep architectures were more synchronized between partners during co-sleep (p = 0.005) even if wake phases were excluded (p = 0.022). Moreover, sleep architectures are significantly coupled across a lag of ± 5min. Depth of relationship represented an additional significant main effect regarding synchronization, reflecting a positive association between the two. Neither REM sleep nor synchronization was influenced by gender, chronotype, or other relationship characteristics.
Conclusion: Depending on the sleeping arrangement, couple's sleep architecture and synchronization show alterations that are modified by relationship characteristics. We discuss that these alterations could be part of a self-enhancing feedback loop of REM sleep and sociality and a mechanism through which sociality prevents mental illness.
KW  - co-sleep
KW  - REM sleep
KW  - synchronization
KW  - bed-sharing
KW  - physiological coupling
KW  - sociality
KW  - chronotype
KW  - relationship quality
Y1  - 2020
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/54295
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-542959
SN  - 1664-0640
N1  - Copyright © 2020 Drews, Wallot, Brysch, Berger-Johannsen, Weinhold, Mitkidis, Baier, Lechinger, Roepstorff and Göder. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
VL  - 11
IS  - Art. 583
SP  - 1
EP  - 12
PB  - Frontiers Research Foundation
CY  - Lausanne
ER  -