New research suggests that sharing a bed with a dog may not be as disruptive to sleep as commonly believed. The study, which focused on the sleep patterns of 25 humans and 38 dogs over four weeks, found that sleeping alongside a dog did not significantly affect sleep duration or quality.
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Participants wore wrist monitors, while their dogs wore similar devices on their collars, allowing researchers to analyze their sleep behaviors. The findings indicated that pet owners and their dogs tended to be active during the same periods at night. However, those who shared their sleep space with multiple dogs reported poorer sleep quality, although the overall number of dogs did not correlate with perceived sleep quality.
The researchers noted that their results align with existing human sleep models, showing no significant impact from having other dogs or humans present during sleep. They did observe that human activity often preceded dog activity, suggesting that disturbances might stem more from the owners than their pets. "One potential reason for why human activity occurred prior to dog activity could be that human nighttime activity is indicative of poorer sleep, characterized by sleep disruption," they explained.
Additionally, dogs that slept further away from their owners were more likely to trigger nighttime movements in the owners, whereas dogs in close proximity reacted more to the owners' movements.
The authors cautioned that the study had a small sample size and recommended future research involving diverse dog breeds and age groups for more comprehensive insights. They concluded that while human disturbances generally occurred before dog disturbances, both the human and the dog influence each other's nighttime activities, highlighting the bond between the two species.