The Key to Better Relationships May Be More Sleep
Everyone wants a good excuse to stay in bed a little longer.
Dating is tough, and navigating life with a significant other can be fun or really annoying—especially when you’re sleep deprived. Everyone knows that even if things are going great with bae, it’s easy to turn into a spiteful turd if we’re running on a few hours of sleep. It’s human nature. We become assholes when we’re tired.
To prove this well-known phenomenon with science, researchers at Florida State University ran a study to prove the secret to a happy relationship is sleeping enough.
Researchers Heather M. Maranges and James K. McNulty recruited 68 newlywed couples and had them fill out questionnaires for seven days. The couples reported how many hours they slept the previous night and rated their relationship satisfaction in nine areas including conflict resolution, affection, and sex. Then they rated their satisfaction in their marriage and with their partner.
To everyone’s surprise (just kidding), the results of the study revealed that when participants got enough sleep, they felt more satisfied in their marriage the next day. If they didn’t sleep enough, they were apparently pretty unhappy. Obviously.
The researchers believe that feeling satisfaction when well-rested comes from the fact that couples “discount undesirable experiences when forming global evaluations of the relationship.” You can’t really do that when you’re tired and cranky.
Next time things aren’t going too well with your special lady friend, just take a nap together. Problem solved!