Benefits Include Individual Temperature Control, More Personal Space, and Less Fighting Over Covers in Norway

Experts reveal whether the Scandinavian sleep method works Replacing a double duvet cover with two twin covers can lead to a better quality of sleep for some couples, according to experts. Getting a good night's sleep is key to a successful day ahead, but sharing a bed with a partner can easily disrupt sleep quality due to their nighttime habits. Sharing a bed with a cover hog, a sleep-talker, or someone who tosses and turns all night can affect both quality and quantity of sleep, impacting overall health, stress, and concentration levels.

Some couples address these problems by sleeping in separate rooms, known as a "sleep divorce, but another option is the Scandinavian sleep method, where couples share the same bed but each person sleeps under separate covers. The method is most common in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, where some couples replace a double duvet with two twin duvets. Benefits include individual temperature control, more personal space, and less fighting over covers.

Wendy Troxel, Ph. D., a behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation and author of "Sharing the Covers: Every Couple's Guide to Better Sleep, told Today that the method gives couples more personal space during the night without being fully apart. "It can satisfy the need for closeness, but also the need to have one's own sleep space for the actual sleeping part of the night, Troxel said.

The method also helps partners who feel they play tug-of-war during the night or who run hot or cold. "Temperature preference when sleeping is highly individualized, Deirdre Conroy, PhD, a board-certified behavioral sleep medicine specialist and clinical professor at the University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry, told Women's Health. "For example, women experiencing menopausal hot flashes may also enjoy a cooler duvet.

This method allows each person to sleep comfortably with their individual sleep needs met. However, the method won't work if you or your partner have sleep conditions that make it difficult to sleep in the same bed. "If your partner is snoring like a truck, the Scandinavian method is not going to do much good, Troxel said.

"The solution really is going to depend on the nature of the problem. If the method doesn't work, couples might consider sleeping apart. Sharing a bed can bring many disturbances, especially if a partner snores or has other serious sleep conditions.

Whether a couple chooses to sleep together isn't a reflection of the strength of their relationship. In the Victorian era, couples who could afford it slept in separate rooms, but Troxel said a change came in the 1960s in the U.S., when sleeping apart was stigmatized as associated with a lack of intimacy. "People think it indicates that something is wrong with the relationship, but that doesn't need to be the case at all, Tina Sundelin, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Stockholm University, told Women's Health.

Many people think they sleep better with a partner because they feel safer and more comfortable, but Troxel said this isn't the case based on various sleep studies. "Using objective measurements of sleep... research generally shows that when people share a bed, they sleep a bit worse, Troxel said. "When the objective costs of sharing a bed override those psychological benefits, that's when I think it can be very beneficial for couples to choose to sleep apart.

We have solid scientific evidence that when you're poorly slept, your communication skills suffer, and you're more prone to mental health disorders... which can negatively impact your relationship, she added. The expert said couples should make the decision based on what works best for them.