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Why I’m Not Getting Enough Sleep
At the 23rd annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Society, or SLEEP 2009, taking place in Seattle (please, no Sleepless in Seattle jokes, that movie made me crazy), Wendy M. Troxel, Ph.D., presented a report about an eight-year study, and it’s the kind of study that makes my blood boil, which is a bad thing, blood boiling, that is, if you’re trying to get a good night’s sleep. According to Dr. Troxel’s report, happily married women sleep better than unhappily married women who sleep better than women who have never married.
For as long as I can recall, I’ve been a lousy sleeper, whether I’ve had stable partners, or not, whether we’ve gotten along or not, and I’ve chalked it up to genetics (thanks, Mom!) only to discover that like many things I’ve blamed on my mother, it’s not her fault, but somehow mine. Please debunk this study, Bella DePaulo (author of Singled Out: How Singles are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After) so I can sleep better tonight.
Update: I contacted Bella DePaulo and she looked into this study. Please read her blog on the subject:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/living-single/200906/if-you-get-married-will-you-sleep-better
Photo: .delila.’s photostream
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6 comments for “Why I’m Not Getting Enough Sleep”
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Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting
Wendy …. studies only give you AVERAGES – so unless you’re the “average” then you can’t use the study as the reason that you’re a bad sleeper!
Take married women – if they’re mothers then for years and years they DON’T sleep well …. I wonder how much influence this had on the study results?
And I wonder what the age was of the study participants. For example, very young single ladies might be too busy partying and not sleeping. Plus there are a lot of older single ladies… and it’s a known fact that as soon as women’s female hormones start changing, their sleep patterns change. So there’s an element of hormonal influence.
Quite seriously though – have you seen a doctor? Just wondering if there was a medical reason …. at the WORST you might have sleep apnea ….
HOPE you didn’t fall asleep while reading this comment ….. it’ll either mean you’re very sleepy or I’m very boring 😉 😉
Bella would dig into the actual study – though it looks like there isn’t a publication yet – but if you look at the report, you can already see the fallacy: Happier people are happier! Well, duh!
To me that hints that it’s not marriage that helps women sleep but being content and happy. Divorced people sleep not as well because it’s very stressful to go through a divorce! Have these researchers been under a rock?!? I find it rather annoying that they throw marriage in there as a variable even though their own summary shows that marriage per se has nothing to do with sleeping well.
Take out the “married” and you get the same finding: Happy/relaxed people sleep better than unhappy/stressed out people. So, the only reason why marriage was thrown in there as a variable was to create some matrimania. (In statistics speak, I’d argue they’re overfitting the model: Adding variables because they can not because they add any explanatory power).
I have never been married but I sleep way way way worse when there is another person in the bed. I usually get pissed off and go sleep in the other room or on the sofa where I can finally fall asleep. I’m OK with sharing a bed with non-lovers. Its the sleeping plus physical closeness that doesn’t work for me.
So there crazy married-people-sleep-better-scientist-lady! Take THAT!
I have to agree with Singlutionary. I too have a hard time sleeping with someone else. Even after the adjustment period is over, I still find myself waking up in the middle of the night freezing because he’s stolen the sheets or aching because of some weird position he’s twisted my arm into. Even if he’s just shifting around, I’m liable to wake up and have trouble falling asleep again. I think that if I ever got married, I’d have to seriously consider sleeping in separate bedrooms!
I would sincerely advice to all the readers not to opt for divorce just for the reasons like difference of opinion. I think a lot of times divorces can be avoided if they are sorted out by the husband and wife. Try sorting out your issues rather than ending them……