Sleeping next to someone you love can bring you the warmth and comfort you need to drift into a deep sleep. However, this happiness is short-lived when your partner steals the blankets, wakes you up, or otherwise upsets your ability to sleep every night. These constant sleep interruptions can leave you lethargic day after day, which can contribute to a poor mood, weakened immune system, and an unfocused mind. Not very romantic!
Separate bedding could be the solution to your problem. Choosing separate bedding doesn’t mean you and your partner are drifting apart—in these cases, it means you value and respect each other enough to ensure your partner has the best sleep possible. If you love your partner but you don’t love the tug-of-war contest with the blankets every night, consider these arguments for separate bedding.
When Separate Bedding Could Help You and Your Partner Sleep
1. You and your partner wake up at different times
When you get in or out of bed, you typically adjust your blanket and pillow to get comfortable enough for sleep. If you and your partner go to bed or wake up at different times (and one or both of you is a light sleeper), you don’t want to be jostling their blanket when you have to get up. Interruptions during the night can seriously impact your REM cycle and prevent you from a proper night’s sleep.
With separate bedding and sheet sets, you can easily get in or out of bed while your partner is still asleep and not worry about waking them. Provided you’re otherwise quiet and you don’t have a squeaky or super-soft mattress, separate bedding can seriously help couples who wake up at different hours.
2. Your partner sleepwalks
Many people struggle with nightly sleepwalking. They’ll jolt awake—ripping off the blanket in the process—and go wandering around the house until they come back to bed. There is no cure-all solution for sleepwalking at its source, but separate duvets can work wonders to prevent you from nightly sleepwalking interruptions.
3. Your partner is a blanket thief.
Have you experienced the frustration of a partner rolling over and snatching your blanket away from you, leaving you cold and exposed in the middle of your peaceful dreams? If so, separate bedding is highly recommended. Conniving blanket thieves will be powerless when they’re wrapped up in their own blanket, leaving you safe and warm in yours.
Other people might toss and turn because they’re stressed, have chronic pain, are going through menopause, or have been diagnosed with a medical condition that impacts sleep, such as insomnia. It’s unfair to ask someone with these conditions to stop tossing and turning, and it’s unfair for the other party to expect the other to tolerate these constant movements. If this is your case, respect each other’s sleep environments and get separate bedding!
4. Your partner is a space heater.
Some people emit so much heat at night it’s like they turn into a hibernating bear. If you’re constantly waking in a sweat because you’re sharing a blanket with such a fireball, you might benefit from getting your own lighter-weight bedding.
When you share one blanket with someone who’s excessively warm, you’re trapped in that tent of heat with no escape. Separating your blanket means you can still enjoy their warmth, but you have a couple of layers of distance that keeps you from burning up. You can also customize the weight and thickness of your blankets and sheet sets to your liking!
How Will I Make the Bed?
If your bedroom aesthetic is important to you, rest assured that two twin duvets beside each other don’t look that unusual. If you’re concerned about the appearance of your made bed with separate bedding, simply purchase a blanket to lay atop the separate duvets.
A king-sized bed is an ideal size for couples who want separate bedding since you can fit two twin blankets beside each other. Some duvet sets even come with magnetic attachments that you can clip together when you make your bed and separate at night! Look around online and in bedding stores and you’ll find a surprising amount of options.
Separate Bedding Is Always Worth a Try
Chances are if you’re daydreaming of having separate bedding for a better night’s sleep, you’ll likely benefit from it. It might seem like such an obvious solution once you try it that you’ll wish you’d have done it sooner!
People naturally have different ideal sleep environments. They require different temperatures, blanket weights, light levels, and amount of space. It’s not healthy to deny yourself or your partner their ideal sleep environment, especially since poor sleep can seriously degrade your overall health and affect your relationship if it goes on for too long.
On the fence? Separate bedding is always worth a try, even if just for a few nights! The chance to drastically improve your sleep is always worth the effort.
