Can Snoring Ruin A Marriage?

PR Log (Press Release) – Jan 13, 2010 – Hubby snores, wifey nudges him, they both wake up feeling grouchy and miserable the next morning. It’s a common occurrence that may have more of an impact on their marriage than most couples think.

In the USA, the Sleep Disorders Centre is conducting a scientific sleep study to evaluate how a husband’s sleep apnea impacts on the wife’s quality of sleep and the couple’s marital satisfaction.

“This is a frequent problem within marriages that nobody is paying enough attention to,” said Rosalind Cartwright, PhD, founder of the Sleep Disorders Center. “Couples who struggle with sleep apnea have a high-divorce rate. Can we save marriages by treating sleep apnea? It’s a question we hope to answer.”

The Married Couples Sleep Study is evaluating 10 couples in which the male has been diagnosed with sleep apnea. After completing surveys about sleepiness, marriage satisfaction, and quality of life, the couple spends the night in the sleep lab where technicians determine each partner’s quality and quantity of sleep. Following two weeks of treatment, the diagnostic tests and surveys are repeated.

“Our early results are showing that the wife’s sleep is indeed deprived due to the husband’s noisy nights. This is not a mild problem. The lack of sleep for both partners puts a strain on the marriage and creates a hostile and tense situation”.

For example, in one couple, the husband’s snoring was arousing the wife out of sleep over eight times an hour. Her sleep efficiency rating, which is the percentage of time she is actually sleeping during the night, was 73 percent. The average person’s sleep efficiency is closer to 90 percent. The wife had tried ear plugs, earphones, and numerous other devices to try to sleep through the snoring. She eventually gave up and chose to sleep alone.

Following treatment, the wife’s quality of life measure jumped from a 1.2 to a 7, meaning the sleep apnea was no longer bothering her at all. Her sleepiness scale, which measures how tired she feels during the day, dropped from 12 to 6. Marital satisfaction scores improved from 3 to 5.8 and the wife’s sleep efficiency jumped from 73 percent to 82 percent.

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“Our early results have been terrific; it is beautiful to see couples getting along so much better.”

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