The key to a restful night? Let sleeping dogs lie . . .

IT CAN be a bone of contention for many couples – whether or not to let the dog into your bedroom at night.

But opening the door so that your pet can come in won’t mean losing out on a good night’s sleep, according to a study.

Researchers found that those who allowed the dog into the bedroom were not woken up any more than those who do not. But they did warn that allowing your dog on to the bed itself could mean losing sleep.

A US team at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota used sleep trackers on 40 adults and their dogs over seven nights. Co-author Dr Lois

‘Comfort and a sense of security’

Krahn, who is a sleep medicine specialist, said: ‘ Most people assume having pets in the bedroom is a disruption. We found that many people actually find comfort and a sense of security from sleeping with their pets.’

The study was aimed at objectively measuring whether a dog at the foot of the bed does mean sacrificing sleep. It recorded pet owners having sleep efficiency of 80 per cent – in line with the average – based on the proportion of time in bed spent asleep.

However that applies only to having dogs in the bedroom and not on your bed.

Dr Krahn said: ‘ People can awaken because their pet is walking on them, moving around, wiggling on the bed, snoring.

‘Dogs sometimes will be moving and acting out their dreams. There are some pets that get under the blankets and that wakes a person up.’