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Women Who Toss and Turn At Night... Cause Lots Of Marital Strife

Written by Dr. Dave Hnida CBS4 Medical EditorOkay, I realize that by writing this blog, I may be a dead man. Women may think I'm blaming the world's emotional problems on them just because they had a bad night's sleep. 

But let's set the record straight- right from the start: I am just reporting on a study and not commenting on said study (except a little).

It says when women get a poor night's sleep, their relationship with their partner the next day goes right down the tubes. There is a higher risk of arguing, fighting, or just plain incivility.

But when the man gets a poor night's sleep, there's no increased irritability or grouchiness. Everything is peachy-keen, dandy-fine.  (Remember, I'm just telling you about the study.)

The study comes from the University of Pittsburgh and was conducted by a woman researcher. She says "women tend to be more expressive and tend to drive the emotional climate of a couple's relationship." In other words, if she is tired, the guy risks entering an emotional minefield.

On the other hand, men "are more likely to repress their feelings or not be as aware of the climate of a couple's relationship."  In other words, us guys are thick as bricks. Sure, you know we will whine about being tired, but according to this study, won't pick a fight because of it.

But here's a couple of things to consider. Why did she get a poor night's sleep? Did we keep her awake with our snoring? Or did we wake her up when we got into bed late?

Or more importantly, is there anything medical going on that's causing a bad night's sleep? Stress, hot flashes, depression, thyroid disease, etc.?

Bottom line is that a poor night's sleep in either partner is a problem for both (even if us guys say... "what problem? Huh?"

Don't let it ruin a relationship.

 

 

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