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Study Reveals Surprising Find Regarding Women Who Sleep With Dogs

| Published on April 26, 2019

Everyone wants a good night sleep. According to Dr.Christy L.Hoffman, if you are women, sleeping with your dog is the best thing you can do. Who needs a man when you have a fluffy pup to cuddle with?

Dr. Hoffman is a professor in the Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation Department at Canisius College, Buffalo, New York. Her latest study shows that women sleep better next to their lovely fluffy companion rather than next to their man. Pups love to glue themselves on your body and tend to cuddle and show affection. Let’s face it, what’s not to adore about that?

Credit: Pixabay.com

How Do You Sleep Better? With Your Man Or With Your Pup?

Dr.Hoffman and her team research the impact that sleeping next to a pup has on women’s quality of sleep. Her study uses 962 adult women in the United States and says that 55% share beds with at least one dog and 31% sleep next to at least one cat. 57% of women sleep next to a human partner.

Credit: missy.staffiex via Instagram

Dr. Hoffman says in her study that “findings did not show a strong relationship between pet ownership status or bedsharing conditions and sleep quality as assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.” So basically, our pups don’t lessen our sleep quality.

Her research claims that compared with men bed partners, dogs who sleep next to their humans are perceived to disturb sleep less and are associated with stronger feelings of comfort and security. Cats who sleep with their humans are equally as disruptive as men and are associated with weaker feelings of comfort and security then both human and dog bed partners. So that’s another win for dogs!

Some Dogs Have Agitated Dreams

Indeed, it also depends on how your pup sleeps. Some dogs tend to snore even louder than a man and let’s not forget about their troubled dreams. Dogs tend to dream about chasing other dogs or cats and often run in their sleep. Some of them often howl or bark during their nap. And if you’re resting next to a big pup, there’s a chance you may not get a good night sleep. Can you say “bed hog?”

Watch this video to find out why women may rest better with dogs by their side!

Other Studies on The Subject

Dr. Hoffman’s study wasn’t the only research based on how humans sleep with their pups. In 2015, the Mayo Clinic tried to find out whether or not a dog in the bedroom disturbed sleep. The study included 40 healthy adults that had no sleep disorders and their fluffy companions. The conclusion revealed that those who slept near a dog maintained good sleep efficiency. The interesting thing about this study was that human sleep efficiency was higher if the dog was on the bed as opposed to simply in the room. Before the study, people presumed that having a pup in your bed might be disruptive, but the research declared this assumption was false.

Where does your dog sleep?

Tell us more about the way you sleep with your dog! Does your pup have its own comfy bed or do you sleep together?

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