Poor sleep isn’t just bad for your health – it’s taking its toll on your relationship, too

Poor sleep isn’t just bad for your health – it’s taking its toll on your relationship, too

Credit: Getty

Relationships


Poor sleep isn’t just bad for your health – it’s taking its toll on your relationship, too

By Amy Beecham

2 years ago

2 min read

Having relationship problems? It turns out bad sleep could be to blame, according to a new study. 


Wanting different things. Irreconcilable differences. A lack of chemistry. There are plenty of reasons why, though try as we might, our romantic relationships don’t work out. But according to a new study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, there could also be a connection between the quality of our sleep and the quality of our partnerships.

Researchers at Villanova University, Pennsylvania, found that poor sleep can lead to increased feelings of anger, which, in turn, negatively impact our perceptions of our partner and the bond we share. It makes sense: bad or lost sleep can lead to increases in stress and anger, and participants who reported experiencing poor sleep over the past month tended to have less positive views of their relationship.

“In short, getting worse sleep predicted people perceiving that their relationships were worse – they perceived less intimacy, love, satisfaction, trust, passion and commitment in their relationships,” the study’s author Erica Slotter told PsyPost.

“Worse sleep also predicted people feeling angrier – in general, not necessarily at their partner. These findings suggest that sleeping less well predicts us feeling more irritable and angry, which then predicts us feeling less positively about our romantic relationships.”

A woman's feet poking out from under the covers in bed

Credit: Getty

It’s easy to see how, when we’re deprived of sleep, we’re more likely to overreact to situations that normally wouldn’t rattle us, which can lead to more conflict. Not only that, but it’s important to wake up properly rested in order to process your emotions and memories from the day.

Sometimes periods of bad sleep are unavoidable due to different working schedules, but making sure to secure more together time while respecting one another’s sleep patterns is the key to maintaining a healthy partnership.

So if you ever needed more reason to focus on improving your sleep health, this is certainly it. 


Images: Getty

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