The Effect of Dogs on Human Sleep in the Home Sleep Environment

Patel, Salma; Miller, Bernie W.; Kosiorek, Heidi E.; Parish, James M.; Lyng, Philip J.; Krahn, Lois E.

doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2017.06.014

Cited by 28 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…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%

“…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). While Patel et al [25] had a large sample of participants and concluded that human sleep efficiency differed depending on where the dog slept (e.g., on the bed, on the bedroom floor), they did not control for human bed partners, and they only reported the average number of minutes that dogs and owners were sleeping or resting. That is, they did not examine minute-to-minute associations between dog and human movement to determine the frequencies at which dog movement preceded or coincided with human movement.…”

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: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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“…Pets are commonly seen as members of the family and telling individuals to stop sleeping with a pet can be the same as telling individuals to stop sleeping with their partner or children (Patel et al 2017;Rose et al 2015). Belk (1996) reported that pets are seen to make life interesting and are a source of entertainment.…”

Section: Sleep-positive Influences Of the Human/pet Relationshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research on the relationship between service dogs and sleep is meager and a search of the literature revealed no systematic reviews, only a literature review published in a sleep magazine (Rose et al 2015). Research regarding pet animals and specifically dogs, is even more sparse (Patel et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Findings revealed that participants with a single dog in the bedroom but not on the bed, maintained good sleep efficiency (ratio of time in bed to time asleep) but sleep efficiency decreased significantly (83.1% and 80.1% respectively; p = 0.003) when dogs slept on the bed. This suggests that the problem for sleep efficiency is not so much human/pet co-sleeping, but rather a dog's position on or off the bed (Patel et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Undercover Dogs: Pet Dogs in the Sleep Environment of Patients with Chronic Pain

2018

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1) Background: Chronic pain is a significant and prevalent condition in many industrialized nations. Pain and sleep's reciprocal nature suggests that interventions to improve sleep may decrease pain symptoms. Little attention has been paid to the influence that owning a pet dog has on the pain/sleep relationship. Typical advice to remove pets from the bedroom negates the possible positive benefit of human-animal co-sleeping. Aim: To investigate pain patients' perceived impact of pet dog ownership on sleep. (2) Methods: We carried out a content analysis of interview data focused on the impact of pet dog ownership on sleep. The qualitative dataset comes from a subgroup of participants in a larger study examining the pain patient/canine relationship. This subgroup of participants from the larger study was asked, "Does your dog have a positive or negative impact on your sleep?" The data were thematically coded using an iterative approach. (3) Findings: Codes included: companionship; physical presence/'cuddles'; routine/schedule; distraction from anxiety/worry at night; reassuring/protective presence; active intervention to keep participant safe; daytime activity to promote sleeping at night; and reciprocal concern for the sleep of the pet dog. (4) Conclusions: Pet dogs may play important roles in helping people with chronic pain achieve sleep onset and maintenance. Removing the dog to improved sleep could be counter-productive and lead to additional sleep-related issues.

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