Rhelyn Harder
- A new study has found that women sleep better with their dogs
- A study sought to know the impact that pets have on human sleep quality
- The researcher also found out that dog owners went to bed and woke up earlier that people who only have cats
Some women dream of having a man who would hug them to sleep at night but a new study has found that women would have better sleep with their dogs.
A team of researchers led by Dr. Christy L. Hoffman, a professor in the Animal Behavior Ecology and Conservation department at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York sought to discover the impact that pets have on human sleep quality.
In the survey participated in by 962 adult women in the United States, they have found that 55 percent of the participants sleep with at least one dog and 31 percent sleep with at least one cat.
Plus, 57 percent of the respondent shared their bed with their human partner.
According to Hoffman, their finding “did not show a strong relationship between pet ownership status or sharing bed conditions and sleep quality.”
But with the help of “Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index” as their assessment tool, they have found that women who shared their beds with a dog had reported that they had a better, more restful sleep because dogs are less disruptive than their human partner.
This report was associated with having a strong feeling of comfort and security.
Some of the participants also said that bed-sleeping cats are just as disruptive as human partners as this was associated with a weaker feeling of comfort and security than that of both dog and human.
The researcher also found out that dog owners went to bed and woke up earlier that people who only have cats.
Hoffman told Broadly that the “keyword here is perception, this individual self-reporting how they feel their sleep is affected” and it’s “important to note that this is based on aggregated data and an average of responses, so getting a dog won’t solve everyone’s sleep problems.
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She emphasized that the study was based depending on the respondent perception and individual differences can be a factor of their response. As an example, some dogs snore in their sleep and that can affect their sleep quality.
In 2017, the Mayo Clinic also conducted studies on people who slept with a dog and had better sleep, but Hoffman’s study recommends further research. She even told Broadly that she hopes also to research whether men’s sleep is affected by pets in the same way as women’s.
