Snoring, temperature variations, cover stealers, and tossing and turning often lead to partners sleeping separately. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. We'll call her Susan.
She has been with her French boyfriend for eight years and they live together in Switzerland. Both are in their mid-forties and about a year ago, the couple took to sleeping in separate rooms due to his snoring and breathing problems. "I already had some issues with falling asleep, but this wasn’t really a problem with my partner.
Actually, since meeting him, things got a lot better," says Susan. However, he started snoring more regularly in 2022. "I would wake up about 4 times per night with his snoring.
It was disturbing for him too, as I would try to move him to calm the snoring". In early 2023, the couple decided to start sleeping apart. "It was a relief to be able to sleep through the night," Susan recalls.
Her boyfriend was then diagnosed with sleep apnea and began using a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine. They tried sleeping together again with the machine on, but the noise was even worse than the snoring. A year on, although his condition has improved, they learnt from an app that he was still snoring, and Susan developed a "paranoia about having a bad night's sleep".
At first, she would move to the sofa bed during the night, which became a "survival habit". Eventually, they agreed to take turns between the bed and the sofa bed. However, switching between the two each wee.
