Divorce: How Sleep Habits May Impact Relationships and Emotional Connection

Divorce: How Sleep Habits May Impact Relationships and Emotional Connection

Chances are you’ll spend some extra time in bed with your partner over the Christmas period – but are you dreading it or delighted by the prospect?

Do you drift off blissfully wrapped around them or do you cling resentfully to the mattress edge? Experts suggest your preferred sleeping pose could reveal much about the health of your relationship.

Professor Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire surveyed 1,000 sleepers and found 94 per cent of couples who touched during the night classed themselves as happy, compared with 68 per cent who kept their distance.

And a 2025 poll of 2,000 people by the bed company Dreams showed a third of couples admit they are not ‘sleep compatible’ thanks to snoring or duvet-hogging, and one in five already decamp to separate rooms.

So what does your sleeping position say about you and your love life? Here’s the experts’ verdict.

Partners face away with a gap between them: This can signal healthy independence – or resentment. If this isn’t a normal sleep position, it may be because there is an unspoken tension
Partners face away with a gap between them:

This can signal healthy independence – or resentment. If this isn’t a normal sleep position, it may be because there is an unspoken tension

THE SPOON

What it looks like: One partner curls protectively around the other from behind.

Wiseman’s study found that spooning – classic, cosy, and rom-com endorsed – is a favourite of about 31 per cent of couples.

It’s a pose that floods the brain with oxytocin, the ‘love hormone’ key to bonding, higher levels of which are linked to fewer sleep problems.

‘This position usually shows intimacy, closeness and trust,’ says psychotherapist Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar. ‘This dynamic can be healthy and comforting when both partners feel safe and content, but can lead to imbalance if one partner’s needs overshadow the other’s.’

THE DIVORCE RED FLAG

What it looks like: The woman wraps around her partner.

Sounds cosy, but a survey of nearly 10,000 divorced Britons found 86 per cent had slept this way before splitting.Get The Full, Articles. .