Good Night's Sleep Linked to Happy Marriage
New research has found that women in happy marriages
tend to sleep more soundly than women in unhappy marriages, according to a
report at an Associated Professional Sleep Societies
meeting.
In fact, women with good marriages have about 10
percent greater odds of getting a decent night of shut-eye compared to women
who are not happy with their spouse.
"Marriage can be good for your sleep if it's a happy
one,” says the study's lead author, Wendy M. Troxel, Ph.D., at the
University of Pittsburgh. “But, being in an unhappy marriage can be a risk
factor for sleep disturbance."
The million-dollar question, says Dr. Troxel, is which
comes first - does the unhappy marriage lead to poor sleep, or does poor
sleep contribute to a bad marriage?
"We have future studies planned, and we need to tease
that out," she explains. "If you're not sleeping, you're more irritable,
have lower frustration and tolerance levels, so it's possible that could
affect the marriage.
"But we suspect it's in the other direction," that the
bad marriage is affecting the quality of sleep because you're trying to
sleep next to someone you may be fighting with, and that is stressful, she
says.
"If you're stressed or anxious, it can have an effect
on your sleep," agrees Dr. Ana Krieger, at New York University Sleep
Disorders Center.
Dr. Troxel reviewed data on about 2,000 married women
who participated in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN).
The women were an average age of 46 years. Just over
half were Caucasian, 20 percent were African American, 9 percent were
Hispanic, 9 percent were Chinese, and 11 percent were Japanese.
All of the women reported their sleep quality, the
state of their marriage, how often they had difficulty falling asleep, if
they stayed asleep, and how early they woke up.
Happily married women had less trouble getting to
sleep, had fewer sleep complaints, had more restful sleep, and were less
likely to wake up early or awaken in the middle of the night than women
whose marriages were less than ideal.
Even after the researchers adjusted the data to account
for other factors known to disturb sleep, the researchers found that happily
married women still slept more soundly.
And, these findings appeared to hold up across racial
lines. The only groups that the findings were not statistically significant
for were Chinese and Japanese women, but Dr. Troxel suspects this may be
because there were not as many Chinese or Japanese women in the study as
Caucasian and African-American women.
"All marriages aren't created equal, and having a high
quality marriage may be good for sleep, whereas an unhealthy marriage is a
potent source of stress. You could be sleeping with the object of your
hostility," Dr. Troxel says.
If you have a lot of stress from your marriage or
another source, such as your job, says Dr. Krieger, you need to try to fix
the situation that is causing the anxiety.
If you cannot change the stressful situation, she
recommends trying to change how you perceive the stress. Good ways to help
you relax are meditation and yoga.
Dr. Troxel says that if you are in an unhappy marriage,
marriage therapy - or individual therapy if your spouse will not attend
therapy - can be helpful.
She also recommends practicing good sleep habits, such
as going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time every day.
Always consult your physician for more information.