Sleep divorce

More couples are choosing separate beds for better love and sleep

- VAISHALI DAR

FOR CENTURIES, SHARING a bed has been seen as a symbol of intimacy. But in bedrooms around the world, this is gradually changing. A growing number of couples are embracing what has come to be known as 'sleep divorce', the decision to sleep in separate beds or even separate bedrooms.

Despite the dramatic name, the trend has little to do with marital breakdown. In fact, for many couples, it’s about protecting both their health and their relationship, which means, well-rested partners make better partners.

Health-tech company Resmed, in its latest 'Global Sleep Survey', suggests sleep divorce is on the rise. Only 47% Indian couples share a bed, whereas 53% Indians report sleeping separately from their partner at least one night a week to avoid sleep disruption caused from using a phone in bed, snoring, loud breathing and different sleep or wake schedules.

Long before the term 'sleep divorce' entered Western vocabulary, sleeping separately was already common practice in Japan. Unlike in many Western cultures, where co-sleeping is considered the norm for married couples, Japanese households have long embraced more flexible sleeping arrangements.

With 26% to 40% of couples opting to sleep in separate beds or rooms to ensure uninterrupted, high-quality rest, there is not one but several cultural and practical reasons why Japan became an early adopter of this trend.