Separate beds are paradise for couples, not a nightmare

It’s been a bad summer for poor sleepers’ already questionable peace of mind. In July, insomniacs were warned that we face a far higher risk of Alzheimer’s than our more nocturnally-blessed friends. Now it seems we’re also facing a grisly death by heart failure: Japanese scientists have reported that people who toss and turn in the night have a 99 per cent higher chance of heart attacks or severe angina, while those who take more than half an hour to fall asleep, or who sleep for less than six hours per night, have between a 25 and 50 per cent higher risk of heart attack and stroke.

But if restless sleepers are risking their health, what about those poor, long-suffering souls who have to sleep next to us?

Like a sinking ship, bad sleepers always take those in the same bed down with them.

The frustrated sighs as the minutes pass, the endless attempts to get comfortable, the constant shuffling of bedding to get the right temperature, the need to get up for a glass of water, or to turn on the light to read – even the smuggest of slumberers find it hard to cruise through all this, night after night, unperturbed.

Nor is the (already) bad sleeper immune to the irritation of lying next to someone who dozes off within seconds. We may even be a bit happy when our suffering disturbs their peace.

I confess that, for a certain type of insomniac, trying to sleep next to a solid snoozer can add a frenetic kind of bitterness to an already bad night.

The answer? Separate beds, of course – if not separate bedrooms.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say that actress Helena Bonham Carter and director Tim Burton had it about right with their separate but adjoining houses (their divorce in 2014 would surely have taken place sooner were it not for this arrangement).

As well as cancelling out the possibility of ruining another person’s night (and them ruining yours), couples who sleep separately report a luxuriant sense of personal space; better, less routine sex; easier care for crying babies at night, and – thanks to better slumber – all round enhanced well-being.

This strengthens rather than weakens relationships.

Yet there is a strange and intense attachment to bed-sharing in our society. Once the resort of those couples that could not afford more space, bed-sharing has become the very hallmark of intimacy.

Sleeping separately is taboo even when it makes perfect sense; a study by the UK Sleep Council found that although nearly a third of women are regularly disturbed by their partners’ snoring, 78 per cent still shared a bed with them.

This dogged commitment to bed-sharing is madness, given how detrimental to a state so delicate is the presence of another person kicking/moaning/snoring/ sweating/stealing the bedclothes/switching on the light.

But with the health risks of disrupted sleep now being crowed from the rooftops, the time might be ripe for a slumberous shake-up.

Those who secretly yearn for a bed – or a room – of their own can now deploy, with full scientific backing, an unassailable argument about heart health.

Wanting your dearest one to live a long and healthy life is surely a truer sign of love than tossing and turning in bed together night after night.