Bad news: Your pets may be ruining your sleep

Many people enjoy sleeping with their pets. Who wouldn’t? After a hard day of work, cuddling up with a cute animal that shows you unconditional love is just the thing many people need.

But sadly, after digging into a newly released study, you may start to think twice before letting your furry friends get into bed with you. The Conversation recently published an article highlighting the major findings of a study by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine that examined the pros and cons of owners allowing their pets to sleep alongside them at night—something that 46% of survey respondents did. Though the research suggests that sleeping with your pet in bed may have psychological benefits, it may actually have a negative effect on your sleep quality. 

“Sleeping with a pet, particularly one with whom we have a close bond, may reduce this sense of vulnerability while enhancing a sense of safety,” the publication writes. However, “Research suggests that even when pet guardians report better sleep, physiological measures often show more fragmented sleep when they share the bed with their pets.”

The writer, Renata Roma, a researcher at the University of Saskatchewan specializing in human-animal interactions, continues: “In one study, researchers used a wristwatch-like device to measure people’s movement during the night while they slept with their pets. They found that even when people felt they slept well, their sleep tended to be more disrupted. In some cases, these disruptions were related to the pet’s movements during the night.” 

This may be due to their increased sensitivity to “external stimuli,” such as noises from outside throughout the night, especially among those who sleep with dogs, as those respondents reported being more disrupted in their sleep than cat owners—though the results for the latter are still mixed.

But owners are not the only ones not getting the best sleep. The animals are being affected as well. “Co-sleeping with a pet, therefore, may affect both the person’s sleep and the pet’s sleep,” Roma writes.

People who get a consistent amount of lower-quality sleep can have a negative impact on different parts of their mental and emotional well-being, the study reports. “This may appear as lower tolerance for frustration or a reduced ability to manage emotionally challenging situations,” The Conversation says. “Fatigue, depressed mood, difficulty focusing, and a range of other symptoms may also be linked to poor sleep.”

When considering whether people should allow their pets to sleep in bed with them, the article asks readers to view the situation differently. “Rather than asking whether co-sleeping with your pet is beneficial or harmful, a better question is: are you prioritizing emotional comfort or uninterrupted sleep?” 

It’s a question pet owners may be loath to answer. After all, how can they say no to that face?