Sleep and relationships are codependent

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On a day to day basis, a couple’s relationship affects how well they sleep. And how well they sleep affects how the relationship functions the next day, researchers say.

The study, from the University of Arizona, found that, for men, better sleep was linked to more positive ratings of relationship quality the next day. For women, negative interactions with their partners during the day led to a poorer quality sleep for themselves and their partner that night. The study, released today at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, involved 29 heterosexual, co-sleeping couples who did not have children. Each person completed sleep diaries for seven days and recorded the quality of interactions with their partners six times a day.

The take-home message, says lead investigator Brant Hasler, is to settle your conflicts before going to bed at night and avoid confrontational discussions on a day after one or both partners had a bad night’s sleep.

In other news from the meeting:

• The importance of sleep to academic performance is among the most robust findings in sleep research in recent years. One study, from the University of Pittsburgh, found that math, history and English scores all correlated with sleep quality. Different types of sleep problems, however, affected different types of function. For example, higher math scores were related to greater sleep quality, fewer awakenings and increased sleep efficiency while English and history scores correlated with less difficulty waking up. Overall, the teens in the study who had regular and predictable sleep schedules coped better with short-term sleep deficits than those with more varying and chaotic sleep schedules.
• Another study, from Hendrex College in Conway, Ark., found that poor sleep patterns were linked to poorer academic performance and a decline in grade point average during the transition from high school to college. Students who were ‘evening-types’ (people whose body clocks favor sleeping in late and staying up late) had an average GPA of 2.84 in the first year of college compared with ‘morning types or intermediate types’ who had a 3.18 GPA.

-- Shari Roan