Human-Animal Co-Sleeping: An Actigraphy-Based Assessment of Dogs' Impacts on Women's Nighttime Movements.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Small prospective observational case series of dyads without a control group.
PubMed 32054077 · doi:10.3390/ani10020278
What was done
Researchers monitored 12 adult female human (mean age 50.8 years) and dog co-sleeping dyads using actigraphy to evaluate nighttime movement interactions. Movement data were recorded in one-minute epochs across an average of 10 nights per participant, totaling 124 nights and 54,533 observations (mean 7.3 hours per night). Subjective sleep quality and disruption were also tracked using human sleep diaries.
What was found
There was a significant positive association between human and dog movement, with dog activity having a stronger influence on human movement than vice versa. Dog movement was present during approximately 50% of human movement epochs and tripled the odds of a woman transitioning from a non-moving state to a moving state. However, participants rarely reported subjective sleep disruption from their dogs in sleep diaries.
Why it matters
This study provides objective actigraphic evidence that sharing a bed with a dog increases nighttime physical movement, highlighting a discordance between objective physiological disruption and subjective perceptions of sleep quality.
Limits
The sample size was very small (12 women), limiting generalizability. The study only included adult women, meaning results may not generalize to men, children, or non-co-sleeping pet owners. It relied on actigraphy without polysomnography to assess actual sleep architecture or awakenings, and lacked a non-co-sleeping control condition.
Cited by
- supports Sleeping with a pet or other animal in the bedroom increases sleep fragmentation.