Most Women Prefer To Sleep With Their Dogs Than With Men, Study Reveals

It’s nice whenever you are in a stable relationship with a guy who you know is so in love with you. It can be such a privilege when you sleep next to the man who you know will always be there to take care of you and love you no matter what. There are many studies that confirm that sleeping next to someone you love is actually very good for your health.

There are many benefits that come with cuddling up to the man who has a stranglehold on your heart. It can bring a sense of safety, security, and comfort in your life. This might help you sleep a lot easier and a lot better at night when you’re beside the man who will always protect you.

But there is still no escaping the fact that there are a few minor annoyances that come with sharing a bed with a man. He might be snoring ever so loudly. He might be tossing and turning too much. He might hog a huge bulk of the bed space. He might rip the blanket away from you.

So, it might not come as a total surprise that a recent study has revealed that women actually enjoy sleeping with their dogs more than sleeping to their male partners.

The study was spearheaded by a team of experts from Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation Department at the Canisius College based in Buffalo New York. It was led by Dr. Christy L. Hoffman and her team of experts who sought to find out what kind of effects pets could have on their humans’ quality of sleep. In order to carry this study out, they sampled a collection of 962 adult women in the United States.

What did the studies reveal?

The study depicted that 55% of participants slept with at least one dog on their bed with them. And 31% of respondents shared their bed with a cat as well. To round it all up, 57% of the participants said that they shared beds with their male partners.

The results of this study “did not show a strong relationship between pet ownership status or bedsharing conditions and sleep quality as assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index,” said Dr. Hoffman.

But they did learn that women who share their beds with dogs are more likely to record better quality sleep at night. They also said that their dogs were less disruptive in the bed as compared to their partners and cats. They also felt that their dogs were able to offer a higher level of comfort and security as they slept.

A brief summary of the study actually says, “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.[It] may be related to dogs’ abilities to deter intruders and warn their owners of potential threats.”

One other result of the study has revealed that dog owners actually sleep and wake up earlier compared to those who only sleep with cats.

Are the results of the study accurate?

In spite of the findings of the study, Hoffman asserts that the “keyword here is perception, this [study is based on] individuals self-reporting how they feel their sleep is affected. It’s important to note that this is based on aggregated data and an average of responses, so getting a dog won’t solve everyone’s sleep problems.”

In addition to that, she also said that there were some minor nuances that differentiated the responses of the participants. An example of such differences is that of the snoring that some dogs do while they sleep.

The study also went on to recommend that further research has been done on the matter. Hoffman also said that she is interested in knowing whether a man’s sleep would be affected in a similar manner if they happened to share a bed with a pet.

What are the health benefits of sleeping next to your pet dog?

There are many health benefits that come with sleeping next to your pet dog. And here are just some of them.

Sleeping next to your dog can aid in reducing the amount of stress in your body be regulating cortisol levels.

Pets can help give you a sense of comfort and security with their presence.

They have the ability to help ease your stresses, insecurities, and anxieties by boosting the amount of oxytocin in your body.

Dogs generate much more body heat as compared to humans. So sleeping next to a dog can help keep you warm.

The rhythmic breathing of a dog can help you fall asleep easier.

Pet dogs can help fight off the likelihood of a person to develop depression.