2024-01-02 05:00:00
Do you suffer from sleep disorders? Do you have difficulty falling asleep? Do you wake up several times a night? The culprit may be right next to you… Lying on the other side of the bed. Researchers at the University of Michigan (United States) evaluated the effects of shared sleep on mice.
In their recent study, published on December 22, 2023 in the journal Current Biologythey used different equipment – wireless devices and video recordings – to monitor the sleep of several mice during a 24-hour cycle.
The health newsletter
Every Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.
Receive our selection of articles from our Health section as well as the rankings of hospitals and clinics, special files, advice and tips…
Merci !
Your registration has been taken into account with the email address:
To discover all our other newsletters, go here: MyAccount
By registering, you accept the general conditions of use and our confidentiality policy.
So, scientists have noticed that these small rodents seek physical contact before falling asleep and huddle together while they sleep. But this physical proximity is not without consequences since mice that spend the night together disrupt each other’s sleep.
“The mice were willing to give up their preferred sleeping location to access social contact. This suggests that motivation for prolonged physical contact drives grouping behavior,” the authors note in the study release. The need for prolonged physical contact is important for rodents even if there are adverse consequences on sleep.
When sleep is coordinated
In humans, the effects of co-sleeping are almost similar. Indeed, sleep can be disrupted and insomnia can be transmitted between the two partners. But then, why do animals and humans opt for situations that compromise their sleep?
The team does not have a clear answer to this question. However, she noticed a coordination of several neurophysiological characteristics in people who sleep together, such as the time of falling asleep and waking up as well as the intensity of sleep and its different phases.
« The Timing of rapid eye movement sleep episodes, or REM sleep, was synchronized among brothers, but not sisters sleeping together or in unfamiliar mice. This suggests that an individual’s internal state, such as feelings of security, controls the degree of synchronization,” the researchers add.
Before concluding: “Our results further suggest that an animal’s internal state plays a crucial role in coordinating rapid eye movement sleep episodes and oscillatory neurophysiological activity. These findings expand current understanding of the extent to which social factors can modulate sleep. »
1704345250
#trouble #sleeping #partners #fault
