Good Night's Sleep Linked to Happy Marriage

New research has found that women in happy marriages tend to sleep more soundly than women in unhappy marriages, according to a report at an Associated Professional Sleep Societies meeting.

In fact, women with good marriages have about 10 percent greater odds of getting a decent night of shut-eye compared to women who are not happy with their spouse.

"Marriage can be good for your sleep if it's a happy one,” says the study's lead author, Wendy M. Troxel, Ph.D., at the University of Pittsburgh. “But, being in an unhappy marriage can be a risk factor for sleep disturbance."

Stress Can Lead to Poor Sleep
The million-dollar question, says Dr. Troxel, is which comes first - does the unhappy marriage lead to poor sleep, or does poor sleep contribute to a bad marriage?

"We have future studies planned, and we need to tease that out," she explains. "If you're not sleeping, you're more irritable, have lower frustration and tolerance levels, so it's possible that could affect the marriage.

"But we suspect it's in the other direction," that the bad marriage is affecting the quality of sleep because you're trying to sleep next to someone you may be fighting with, and that is stressful, she says.

"If you're stressed or anxious, it can have an effect on your sleep," agrees Dr. Ana Krieger, at New York University Sleep Disorders Center.

Dr. Troxel reviewed data on about 2,000 married women who participated in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN).

The women were an average age of 46 years. Just over half were Caucasian, 20 percent were African American, 9 percent were Hispanic, 9 percent were Chinese, and 11 percent were Japanese.

All of the women reported their sleep quality, the state of their marriage, how often they had difficulty falling asleep, if they stayed asleep, and how early they woke up.

Happily married women had less trouble getting to sleep, had fewer sleep complaints, had more restful sleep, and were less likely to wake up early or awaken in the middle of the night than women whose marriages were less than ideal.

Even after the researchers adjusted the data to account for other factors known to disturb sleep, the researchers found that happily married women still slept more soundly.

And, these findings appeared to hold up across racial lines. The only groups that the findings were not statistically significant for were Chinese and Japanese women, but Dr. Troxel suspects this may be because there were not as many Chinese or Japanese women in the study as Caucasian and African-American women.

"All marriages aren't created equal, and having a high quality marriage may be good for sleep, whereas an unhealthy marriage is a potent source of stress. You could be sleeping with the object of your hostility," Dr. Troxel says.

Marriage Therapy, Lifestyle Choices Help
If you have a lot of stress from your marriage or another source, such as your job, says Dr. Krieger, you need to try to fix the situation that is causing the anxiety.

If you cannot change the stressful situation, she recommends trying to change how you perceive the stress. Good ways to help you relax are meditation and yoga.

Dr. Troxel says that if you are in an unhappy marriage, marriage therapy - or individual therapy if your spouse will not attend therapy - can be helpful.

She also recommends practicing good sleep habits, such as going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time every day.

Always consult your physician for more information.

Online Resources

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American Academy of Sleep Medicine

American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy

National Institute of Mental Health

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

National Sleep Foundation

Sleep in America Poll