Parade: ResMed (2021)

A 'Sleep Divorce' Sounds Like a Bad Thing, but It Could Actually Work Wonders for Your Health (and Your Relationship)

Picture this: After a long day, you're finally curled up in bed with a book. You read for a few minutes, set your book on your nightstand, and fall into a blissful, much-needed sleep while snuggled up next to your partner.

Suddenly, it's 2 a.m. and you're wide awake. But it's not because you're up worrying about the pandemic, or because you're feeling paranoid about an unanswered text from a friend. It's because your partner is snoring so loudly that the idea of getting back to sleep feels like a joke. So you take your pillow out to the couch and curl up with that couch blanket you've practically lived in since quarantine started, hoping to get a few more hours of sleep.

Sound familiar? If so, you're not alone: According to data from a recent Casper Sleep survey, 14.3% of respondents said they'd started sleeping in different rooms from their partners since the start of the pandemic, citing issues like snoring (48.7%) and cover hogging (16.7%) as reasons why sleeping with their partner is disturbing their sleep.

In fact, there's even a term for this: It's called a "sleep divorce," and a mutual decision made by partners to sleep in separate bedrooms, or at least separate beds—you know, 1950s style. And while it sounds like it could be a bad thing, couples who try it say it doesn't just improve the quality of their sleep, but their relationship overall.

Skeptical? We asked experts about it—here's what they had to say about the now-popular sleep divorce.