Most people wind up sharing a bed at one point or another. Maybe it's a significant other. Maybe it's a friend with nowhere else to crash. Maybe it's a regrettable one-night hookup.
According to a new study, the best bedfellows aren't humans at all, but pets.
Everyone sleeps differently, so it can be a challenge for a light sleeper if their partner, say, is a deep sleeper who flails all over the bed and snores super loudly.
Beds are attractive to animals for the same reason they're attractive to us: they're soft, warm and super comfortable. If you have a cat or a dog, chances are good they'll try to sleep in your bed.
If you must share a bed, would you rather share it with a person or a pet? Even when you really love a person, sometimes it just seems like less of a hassle to share your bed with a pet.
New research from scientists at the Department of Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation at Buffalo's Canisius College contains a few findings that might surprise some — or, more realistically, they'll confirm everybody's suspicions.
Scientists conducted a wide-ranging survey that polled nearly a thousand women in the United States. Of this population, 55 percent shared their beds with at least one dog while 31 percent shared with at least one cat.
About 57 percent of the respondents said they shared their bed with a human partner. Naturally, there's bound to be overlap between all three groups: those who sleep next to dogs, cats, and humans.
Women who shared beds with a dog said they perceived their sleep quality to be higher than it is with a human partner. They also said that dogs are way less likely to disrupt their sleep.
Turns out they're not ideal bedfellows. Respondents said that sharing the bed with a cat was about as disruptive as sharing with a human. This makes sense: dogs tend to just go to sleep, while cats are nocturnal.
Anyone with a pet dog knows that the canine internal clock is something to behold. In the study, those who shared beds with dogs went to bed and woke up earlier than those with cats.
It would be interesting to see the data, but speaking as a man, I don't know if the results would be much different. Dogs are pretty much the ideal sleep partner: calm, restful and warm.
The study didn't take this into account, although it's a safe assumption that a chocolate lab is probably a little more chill to snuggle with than a small dog like a chihuahua, though the lab would take up more space.
Even if you love your significant other, let's be real here: are they better to sleep next to than a big snuggly dog? Let us know your take in the comments!
