Sharing a bed with someone can have both its benefits and its disadvantages. The intimacy that comes with sharing a bed is something special as you naturally feel close to this person for between 7–9 hours every single night. Especially in a new relationship, sharing a bed can be a lovely time and one that brings a lot of comfort and happiness.
However, after the honeymoon period has eased off between you both, the reality of less space, noise disturbance, body heat and random kicks in the night might begin to settle in. Sometimes, the solution might be to invest in a bigger bed so that you can allow for a more restful sleep, however, if this is not an option for your space, here are some other tips that might help you co-sleep a bit more comfortably.
Choose Your Mattress Together
Did you know that sleeping with the correct mattress could potentially reduce back and neck pain, fatigue, sleep apnoea, muscle cramping, impaired circulation, headaches, heartburn, tummy troubles, and even premature wrinkles!
If you have taken the next step to sharing a bed with someone, then it’s only fair that you choose a mattress together that suits you both. New mattresses don’t have to cost the earth and the investment is a solid one seen as you will be sleeping in it for between 7 – 9 hours every single night.
Memory foam mattresses can be a good idea for sharing couples with different body shapes as they offer customised support to whoever is lying on them, as well as temperature resilience. For example, the MEMOReze Foam layer within an EZE mattress offers contouring support, with breathability to help dispel body heat throughout the night.
Embrace Natural Ways To Stop Snoring
If one of you snores, it’s best to rule out any medical reasons behind it first. Once that is sorted, it’s best to address the problem head on as naturally as possible.
Using a humidifier and saline nasal sprays can be really helpful for some people to improve their breathing and keep the nasal passages open at night. Also practicing yoga or breathing meditations before bed can help. These choices might not eliminate the snoring completely but could significantly reduce the noise.
Although far from ideal for the non-snorer, they could invest in some good quality earplugs or play some white noise that helps to drown out the sound so they can sleep. Also, it could help for the non-snorer to fall asleep slightly earlier so that they are asleep before the snoring starts.
Cater For Differing Temperature Preferences
We all have our ideal sleep conditions, including the temperature at which we like to sleep. Some prefer to be warm and cosy and others cool and fresh. When it comes to sharing a bed, some compromise is needed. In this case, it’s probably the person who likes to be cooler that gets the preference as it’s very hard to sleep when you are too overheated. Therefore, the person who prefers to be warmer could go for the extra-warm pyjamas, bed socks and an extra blanket at their side of the bed.
Again, a memory foam mattress could help in this scenario because of its ability to regulate bodily temperatures according to your own body heat and weight.
Try To Sync Your Sleep Routines
We get it, one of you is an early bird and the other is a night owl. This is a very common issue between couples and one which, unfortunately, you might not have that much control over.
Each of us has our own body rhythm that controls our internal sleep clock. It’s pretty hard to fight it and change it as it may lead to insomnia or frustration. However, you could try to create a bedtime routine that helps you both meet in the middle.
Try to set a ‘bed-time’ that is when both of you make your way into bed. That way the early sleeper won’t be disturbed when the night owl comes into the bedroom and gets ready for bed. Even if the night owl doesn’t want to go to sleep just yet, perhaps they could read or listen to some music or a podcast for a while until they get sleepy.
In the mornings, a wake-up lamp or some light programmed music could help you both to wake up peacefully together and align your body clocks naturally. Alternatively, if the night owl needs more sleep, the early riser could use an alternative room to get dressed so that they don’t disturb too much with noise and light.
Stop The Duvet Hogging
It may be an involuntary occurrence, but still, waking up in the middle of the night shivering while your partner is curled up with 100% of the duvet is never nice! If it keeps happening night after night, then it’s time to act.
One solution might be to get a bigger sized duvet. So, even if your bed is a double, you could get a king-sized duvet so that you both have more surface area to share. Alternatively, you could try using two separate twin duvets so that you both have your own. This is sure to solve the problem of one partner hogging the covers night after night. Having separate bedding might also help to improve the temperature difference situation too as you can both choose a thickness that suits your better.
