An Exploratory Study of Human–Dog Co-sleeping Using Actigraphy: Do Dogs Disrupt Their Owner’s Sleep?

Smith, Bradley; Browne, Matthew; Mack, Jessica; Kontou, Thomas G.

doi:10.1080/08927936.2018.1529355

Cited by 14 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…That is, heightened dog movements were positively associated with heightened human movements. This finding is consistent with the negative association between dog activity and human sleep efficiency that prior studies have reported [17,25]. However, this association alone does not allow for us to infer a causal relationship between dog activity and human sleep disturbance.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Further, individuals who sleep with a human partner turn out the lights earlier, and women fall asleep faster when their human partner is present [16]. However, there are many physiological (e.g., circadian rhythms, monophasic/polyphasic sleep) and behavioral (e.g., toilet breaks, noise, and movement) factors that can lead to sleep disruption [1,17]. Actigraphic measures of sleep efficiency (i.e., the ratio of time spent asleep in a night as compared to the time spent in bed) and self-report measures of sleep quality suggest that women are more adversely affected by bed-sharing with adult partners than men, possibly because, across human history, bedsharing has typically occurred between mothers and their highly dependent infants [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, people who share their bed with their pets take longer to fall asleep, experience more sleep disturbances, and are more likely to wake up tired [19]. They also often fail to recognize that their sleep might be impacted [17], and may overlook the risks that are associated with sharing their bed with their dog. For example, bedsharing with a pet increases the risk of zoonotic disease transmission [23], and potentially interferes with human-human relationships [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While it is common for humans to share their homes and beds with pets, few studies have focused on human-animal co-sleeping, and those that have heavily relied upon self-report data [3,[19][20][21]24]. Only two studies have utilized actigraphy to objectively examine the impact of co-sleeping on human sleep and pet sleep [17,25]. Data from both studies indicate that dogs do reduce their owner's sleep efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, unfortunately, both suffer important limitations. For instance, although the actigraphy study that was conducted by Smith et al [17] succeeded in highlighting the diversity of sleeping arrangements and reasons why dog owners start and continue to co-sleep, it only included a small ad-hoc sample of five females who each provided seven nights of data. Furthermore, the study did not control for co-sleeping partners (human or non-human) or context (e.g., number of dogs, age, and occupation of human).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Human-Animal Co-Sleeping: An Actigraphy-Based Assessment of Dogs’ Impacts on Women’s Nighttime Movements

Hoffman

Browne

Smith

2020

Animals

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Simple Summary: Humans commonly share their beds with companion animals, yet little is known regarding how pets impact sleep. In survey-based studies, pet owners report that their dogs favorably affect sleep quality, but prior actigraphy-based studies of human-dog co-sleeping have concluded the practice can lead to sleep arousals and disturbances and, thus, reduce sleep efficiency (i.e., the ratio of time spent asleep in a night as compared to the time spent in bed). We examined actigraphy data from women and dogs and sleep diary data to investigate the apparent disconnect between objective and subjective reports regarding dogs' effects on sleep. We also analyzed data minute-by-minute to assess whether dog movement impacted the likelihood the human would transition from an inactive to active state. We found associations between human and dog movement over sleep periods and that dogs influenced human movement more than humans influenced dog movement. Humans were largely unaware of their dog's nighttime movements, and they rarely reported that their dog awakened them during the night. Additional research on more diverse samples and studies that use polysomnography and behavioral observations are necessary for developing a better understanding of how pets affect the quality of human sleep.Abstract: Humans regularly enter into co-sleeping arrangements with human and non-human partners. Studies of adults who co-sleep report that co-sleeping can impact sleep quality, particularly for women. Although dog owners often choose to bedshare with their dogs, we know relatively little about the nature of these relationships, nor the extent to which co-sleeping might interfere with sleep quality or quantity. In an effort to rectify this, we selected a sample of 12 adult female human (M = 50.8 years) and dog dyads, and monitored their activity using actigraphy. We collected movement data in one-minute epochs for each sleep period for an average of 10 nights per participant. This resulted in 124 nights of data, covering 54,533 observations (M = 7.3 hours per night). In addition, we collected subjective sleep diary data from human participants. We found a significant positive relationship between human and dog movement over sleep periods, with dogs influencing human movement more than humans influenced dog movement. Dog movement accompanied approximately 50% of human movement observations, and dog movement tripled the likelihood of the human transitioning from a non-moving state to a moving state. Nevertheless, humans rarely reported that their dog disrupted their sleep. We encourage the continued exploration of human-animal co-sleeping in all its facets and provide recommendations for future research in this area.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Human-Animal Co-Sleeping: An Actigraphy-Based Assessment of Dogs’ Impacts on Women’s Nighttime Movements

Hoffman

Browne

Smith

2020

Animals

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Associations between osteoarthritis and duration and quality of night-time rest in dogs

Smith

Mendl

Murrell

2022

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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Demographics and self-reported well-being of Brazilian adults as a function of pet ownership: A pilot study

Defelipe

Savalli

Otta

2020

Heliyon

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The goals of the present study were to investigate socio-demographic characteristics and well-being indicators associated with pet ownership. The respondents (N ¼ 801, 53.8% females; 56.2% with children) came from the five macro-regions of Brazil (8% North, 28% Northeast, 36% Southeast, 18% South, 10% Central-West). Their ages ranged from 20 to 50 years. Over half of the sample (60%) reported living with a pet. Logistic regression showed that residence type (to be owner versus renter) and parental status (to be childless versus to have children) were predictors of pet ownership. We found interaction between pet ownership and sex on well-being indicators: the Mann-Whitney test showed that men who owned a pet reported better sleep quality, better relationship with neighbors and less sadness; whereas women who owned a pet reported lower life organization. With respect to life satisfaction, no differences were found between pet owners and non-pet owners. Implications of our findings and new research directions are discussed. Our study was conducted before the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey should be reapplied during and after the pandemic, so that we can deepen our knowledge of the sociodemographic characteristics and subjective well-being indicators associated with pet ownership.

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An Exploratory Study of Human–Dog Co-sleeping Using Actigraphy: Do Dogs Disrupt Their Owner’s Sleep?

Cited by 14 publications

References 20 publications

Human-Animal Co-Sleeping: An Actigraphy-Based Assessment of Dogs’ Impacts on Women’s Nighttime Movements

Human-Animal Co-Sleeping: An Actigraphy-Based Assessment of Dogs’ Impacts on Women’s Nighttime Movements

Associations between osteoarthritis and duration and quality of night-time rest in dogs

Demographics and self-reported well-being of Brazilian adults as a function of pet ownership: A pilot study

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