November 18, 2024 • 19 mins
Discover how a "sleep divorce" might just be the secret to rejuvenating your nights and energising your days. I share how my own experiences and research insights suggest that separate sleeping arrangements can lead to an average of 37 extra minutes of peaceful rest. We'll explore the common triggers for sleep divorce—like snoring or conflicting schedules—and how this doesn't have to be a permanent solution. Many couples find their way back to a shared bed, reaping the rewards of improved sleep quality.
We'll also traverse the Nordic landscapes of the Scandinavian sleep method, a harmonious alternative that can transform your sleep experience without resorting to separate bedrooms. You'll hear personal insights on how a weighted blanket has been a game-changer for me, along with a heartfelt plea to address sleep issues with care to preserve healthy relationships.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Susie Garden and this is the Ageless and
Awesome podcast.
I'm an age-defying naturopathand clinical nutritionist and
I'm here to bust myths aroundwomen's health and aging so that
you can be ageless and awesomein your 40s, 50s and beyond.
The Ageless and Awesome podcastis dedicated to helping women
(00:24):
through perimenopause andmenopause with great health, a
positive mindset and outrageousconfidence.
Hit, subscribe or follow nowand let's get started.
Hello, gorgeous one, andwelcome to this week's episode
of the Ageless and Awesomepodcast.
This week, I'm going to talkabout the concept of a sleep
(00:49):
divorce.
Have you heard this term?
I think I probably only heardabout it last year, to be honest
, and now I'm hearing more andmore people mention this term.
But what is a sleep divorce andare you in a sleep divorce
situation?
Okay, let's get into it.
(01:11):
So the research tells us yes,there's research on this.
The research tells us thataround 2% of adults are in a
sleep divorce, and I guess,generally, the purpose of this
is to improve the sleep ofeither one or both or all
(01:34):
partners.
So let's have a look at it.
I know if you've listened tothis podcast for a while, you
know that I've spoken quite abit about my own love-hate
relationship with sleep and Ihave to admit, on the odd
occasion when my husband and Ihave not shared the same bed,
and generally that's because ofeither one of us is sick I'm a
(01:56):
bit of a germphobe, so if one ofus is sick then we sleep in
separate beds.
And also if something generallyis going on with our dogs we've
had a lot of storms inSoutheast Queensland over the
past week or so and one of mydogs gets very, very anxious
(02:16):
with storms and so one of us hasto basically take her into
another room.
Otherwise none of us are goingto get any sleep.
So I don't know that I'd reallycall that a sleep divorce
because it's so short term.
But you know, this is somethingabout this situation is that it
doesn't actually have to belong term to be considered a
(02:36):
sleep divorce.
So let's go into it.
Why do people do it?
Generally it's for improvingtheir sleep and in fact, about
53% of people that were surveyedthere was a survey, I think it
was about 1500 people in thesurvey in the US and just under
53% of the survey respondentswho started a sleep divorce say
(02:59):
that it improved their sleepquality, that it improved their
sleep quality, and about 1.4% ofrespondents have started a
sleep divorce or sleepingseparately from their partner
and maintained it in the pastyear.
And the research also showedthat adults who've maintained a
sleep divorce average about 37minutes of sleep more each night
(03:23):
than when they shared a bed.
Now, this is kind of I'm justreading a whole bunch of stats
here and it's kind of a bitboring.
But for those of you, andespecially in perimenopause and
menopause, if you are strugglingwith sleep, as I have, you will
do anything to get a goodnight's sleep right.
And often and I hear this a lotfrom the women that come into
(03:47):
my program, the Glow Protocoloften their partner is part of
the problem with their sleep.
So it's not just that they'vegot hormonal disruption or other
things stress, for example oroften it's the nutrition.
Actually that's not quite rightor there's gut health issues
all of these things can causedisruption to sleep.
(04:08):
But of course, if you have apartner that snores, for example
, or if you have a partnerthat's a shift worker, that's
coming in late or getting upreally early if I've got one
client I think she said herpartner gets up at like 3 or
3.45 to go to the gym.
So there are many, many reasonsthat you may kind of consider
(04:31):
getting a sleep divorce, whereyou sleep in separate beds so
that you can get a better sleep.
And gosh, if I could get anaverage of 37 minutes.
It doesn't sound a lot, butwhen you're really struggling to
sleep, an extra 37 minutes ofsleep would be pretty amazing, I
(04:52):
reckon.
And the thing is, and one of thethings that this research
showed, is that if you go into asleep divorce with an open mind
and an expectation that it maynot be permanent, that you may
decide that you know you want tocome back to sharing the bed or
whatever.
The good news is that, again,what this research showed is
(05:16):
that around a quarter of peoplewho had been in a sleep divorce
ended up sharing a bed again,and mostly because they just
missed each other.
But when they kind of startedsharing a bed again, their sleep
still had improved.
They were still getting I thinkit was in the realm of about 10
(05:41):
or 15 minutes, 10 to 12 minutesmore sleep than when they slept
separately.
And many about 40% of thepeople that sleep ended their
sleep divorce, said their sleepquality also improved.
So there are quite a fewbenefits to having a sleep
(06:05):
divorce and then even gettingback into the same bed again for
sleep.
And some people even respondedin this survey that they chose
to have sleep divorce forseasonal reasons, such as
seasonal allergies, you know,and there was one couple that
was saying that there was.
(06:25):
Every spring one partner getsreally bad allergies, so for
about six weeks they sleepseparately and then they're back
in the same bed again, so itcan be a seasonal thing and that
still comes under that bannerof having a sleep divorce.
And what is really interestingis that people are now even when
they're looking at homeswhether they're renting or
(06:48):
buying, when they're looking athomes, they're actually looking
at how many rooms so thatpotentially they can have a
sleep divorce and each partnerhas their own room so that they
can really get that improvedsleep.
And we know, you know, sleep islike one of the cornerstones of
(07:09):
good health.
Sleep is really reallyimportant for many, many chronic
illnesses, particularly forweight management.
We know that there are so manythings that go on in our bodies
when we sleep, which is one ofthe really big drawbacks of
perimenopause and for some,menopause is the poor sleep that
(07:31):
women are getting is actuallyone of the contributing factors
to weight gain and it's notbecause and I know that I
believe they.
Certainly I thought as apractitioner this is many years
ago is that the reason peoplewho didn't sleep well had a
tendency to gain weight.
I just thought it was becausethey were at the fridge and
(07:54):
probably because what I used todo when I couldn't sleep and
this is probably 10 years ago Iused to get up and have a piece
of toast or have some yogurt ordo something like that, which I
now know is actually going tocompound the problem because
it's going to bump up my bloodsugar.
But the research that they'vedone with the relationship
between sleep and weight gain,it's actually got nothing to do
(08:17):
with any food intake thathappens during the night,
because it happens also withpeople that don't get up and
have food in the middle of thenight.
So there are actually metabolicprocesses that go on in our
bodies while we're asleep.
In fact, there's more than justmetabolic processes going on.
There's a whole bunch of stuffgoing on and what it can do is
really impact your blood sugarand that means that during the
(08:39):
day A, because your blood sugaris impacted, you'll probably
feel hungry, so you'll eat moreB.
You're probably going to feelmore tired, and the thing that
many people do when they feeltired is they reach for
additional food, and generallyit's going to be carbs, which
are not ideal if you're tryingto lose weight.
So there's a few issues at play.
(09:04):
But it's a really interestingconcept to me, this concept of
the sleep divorce, because Ifeel like in the past, sleeping
in separate rooms was consideredbasically the death knell for
the relationship.
Right, but based on the mostrecent research and this is from
(09:26):
last year they're actuallysaying that if you communicate
really well and this is thesecret, the secret is
communication If you communicatereally well about what the
reasons are why you might wantto sleep in separate rooms is
(09:48):
important for a start, so thatthere's no misunderstanding
between the partners, but alsowhat's really important as a
couple is to preserve thecritical time that you spend
together in bed before either ofyou falls asleep, right?
So having some sort of criticalnot critical some ritualistic
(10:12):
almost time that you would spendtogether, so it's not just
watching TV and then one of yougoes to bed and then the other
goes to bed and there's no sortof communication, so actually
having it's a bit similar, Iguess, to a sleep routine, where
there's certain things that youdo that tell your mind that
you're going to bed and it helpsyou go to sleep.
But yeah, if you are spendingsome time together in bed before
(10:38):
either of you falls asleep andthen the person that falls
asleep sort of last goes intotheir other room, that is seen
to be one of the secrets formanaging a sleep divorce
successfully, so that it doesn'tactually kind of damage the
(10:59):
relationship Sometimes.
Another reason for a sleepdivorce is because and again
it's really important inperimenopause and menopause is
the difference in bodytemperatures, and I know for
many women, their partner, ifit's a man, often has a higher
(11:20):
sort of I don't want to say ahigh body temperature, but
they're more of a hot sleeper,if you know what I mean.
And so if you both havedifferent needs in terms of the
heat and the bedding, that youneed to keep your body
temperature in the right sort ofspace for sleep, because you
(11:43):
need to be cool, you need todrop the body temperature a
little bit in order to go tosleep, and particularly in
perimenopause and menopause,obviously there can be that
whole disruption that goes onduring the night, with the hot
flushes and with night sweatsand things like that.
(12:03):
And so there's something calledthe Scandinavian sleep method,
and I've seen this from a fewdifferent sources.
So it does seem to be a thingthat this Scandinavian sleep
method.
I actually thought it wassomething made up.
Yeah, this is something thatI'm going to explain now, the
(12:27):
Scandinavian sleep method,because you know, if you've got
and I think the stats aresomething like one in three
Americans report that theirpartner negatively affects their
sleep, and there can be many,many reasons, as I've already
outlined in this pod already orsometimes it's even as simple as
someone just keeps hogging thedoona, you know.
(12:49):
So you're left with no coveringand you're getting too cold.
So, the Scandinavian sleepmethod, I actually I love that.
I think it's the alliterationthat I really love.
But, um, essentially what it isis, um, instead of just sharing
a single blanket or a doona orwhatever it is that you use at
(13:10):
night, you and your partner eachhave your own.
So it's not like the bed's madeup with two separate sheets and
things, so you completelyseparated it.
It's just that one of you has adoona, maybe you have a like a
thicker doona or a thickerblanket and the other partner
and generally it works best.
If you have, like, a larger bed, it can work on a queen, but
(13:36):
it's apparently much better, asyou can imagine, if you had a
king-sized bed and then you useeither a single or a
double-sized, whether it's ablanket or whether it's a doona
or whatever, at the level ofthickness that you want.
So if you want a heavier one,you can do that.
I pretty much, when I wasreflecting and thinking about
(13:58):
this for this topic, for thispodcast episode, I think I'm in
a situation where I'm probablyusing some of these principles
because I have a weightedblanket, which I've talked about
before, and my husband hates it.
He does not want that at all.
So I absolutely love myweighted blanket and it's
(14:19):
probably I don't know what itisn't.
You don't kind of buy them aslike being for a single or a
double bed.
It just comes as a size, so Iguess it covers up more than
kind of half of our bed, butwhen I'm actually in it it
cocoons me, so it feels like I'min my own little cocoon and I
(14:42):
think it's a very similar kindof experience of this
Scandinavian sleep strategy, inthat I've got the weighted
blanket, but we do have the samekind of coverlet or doona going
over both of us.
But I'm in a little cocoonbecause I've got my weighted
blanket on and that means whenhe and I've noticed this when
he's moving around in the bed, Idon't feel any of that movement
(15:06):
of the covers, whereas at timesI do go from.
You know, sometimes I have amonth or two where I don't use
that weighted blanket and it'sreally noticeable to me that you
know when he rolls over orwhatever.
So it's, I never really thoughtabout it that much before, but
when I think about it this isprobably how it feels to be in
(15:27):
using the Scandinavian sleepmethod is that you have your own
blanket or doona.
When you move, you're notdisturbing the other person and
it definitely helps improvesleep because if you're a light
sleeper, you're not going to bewoken by that movement.
So it was really interesting tome that the Scandinavian sleep
(15:47):
method, which apparently getsused in places like Sweden,
norway, denmark, other parts ofEurope apparently it's very,
very common to do this.
Uh, but you know it is.
I think maybe if you'reconsidering a sleep divorce,
maybe consider the Scandinaviansleep method and try that,
(16:12):
because it definitely, in myexperience, reduces the amount
of movement that you're feelingfrom the other person in the bed
, so you're not getting woken upas much and it might be if
you're just not ready for thesleep divorce.
I've got to say I've loved thenights that we've slept in
(16:32):
separate beds, just, you know,to have that bed to yourself and
not have any of that extra kindof noise.
And I used to travel a lot forwork.
So I was away almost every weekfor a few nights when I was in
corporate land and I did lovesleeping in the hotel beds on my
own land and that I did lovesleeping in the hotel beds on my
(16:55):
own.
So I definitely think I'm kindof recreating that a little bit
in the way the bed's set up atthe moment.
But perhaps for yourself, if youdon't use a weighted blanket
and you don't really need one,maybe having the two separate
dunas or blankets or whatevermight be something you could
consider.
Or maybe a sleep divorce is foryou.
Again, if you're going toapproach that with your partner,
(17:16):
obviously you might want tojust be very considerate with
your language so that they don'tthink you know it's a permanent
kind of you know relocationbecause of relationship issues,
obviously?
If there are, then that's adifferent scenario, but this is,
if it's just purely for sleep,then I think why not give it a
(17:37):
go, because we know that it isso, so important for our health
to get a good night's sleepfrequently.
So I hope that that may havebeen helpful for some of you.
For some of you it might havegone boring, but for those of us
that really struggle with sleep, any little things, any
(17:58):
incremental strategies that youcan implement that might give
you just that extra depth ofsleep, that improved quality of
sleep, that improved length ofsleep, that ability to get back
to sleep more easily once youwake particularly if you're
doing a regular 3 am wake uplike I used to do then, yeah,
(18:19):
any kind of small improvement isgoing to make a world of
difference.
So if you know someone that'sstruggling with sleep, feel free
to share this episode with them.
I grow by word of mouth, so Iwould absolutely love that.
And, yeah, enjoy the rest ofyour week.
I'll be back on Thursday withQ&A.
(18:43):
Thanks so much for joining metoday on the Ageless and Awesome
podcast.
If you liked today's episode,please make sure you click the
little plus button if you're onApple Podcasts, or the follow
button if you're on Spotify, sothat you get each new episode
delivered to you every week.
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(19:05):
Guide for Perimenopausal Women.
Or if you'd like to continuethe discussion, head over to
Instagram and DM me atSusieGardenWellness.
I'd love to connect with you.
Hi, I'm Susie Garden and this is the Ageless and
Awesome podcast.
I'm an age-defying naturopathand clinical nutritionist and
I'm here to bust myths aroundwomen's health and aging so that
you can be ageless and awesomein your 40s, 50s and beyond.
The Ageless and Awesome podcastis dedicated to helping women
(00:24):
through perimenopause andmenopause with great health, a
positive mindset and outrageousconfidence.
Hit, subscribe or follow nowand let's get started.
Hello, gorgeous one, andwelcome to this week's episode
of the Ageless and Awesomepodcast.
This week, I'm going to talkabout the concept of a sleep
(00:49):
divorce.
Have you heard this term?
I think I probably only heardabout it last year, to be honest
, and now I'm hearing more andmore people mention this term.
But what is a sleep divorce andare you in a sleep divorce
situation?
Okay, let's get into it.
(01:11):
So the research tells us yes,there's research on this.
The research tells us thataround 2% of adults are in a
sleep divorce, and I guess,generally, the purpose of this
is to improve the sleep ofeither one or both or all
(01:34):
partners.
So let's have a look at it.
I know if you've listened tothis podcast for a while, you
know that I've spoken quite abit about my own love-hate
relationship with sleep and Ihave to admit, on the odd
occasion when my husband and Ihave not shared the same bed,
and generally that's because ofeither one of us is sick I'm a
(01:56):
bit of a germphobe, so if one ofus is sick then we sleep in
separate beds.
And also if something generallyis going on with our dogs we've
had a lot of storms inSoutheast Queensland over the
past week or so and one of mydogs gets very, very anxious
(02:16):
with storms and so one of us hasto basically take her into
another room.
Otherwise none of us are goingto get any sleep.
So I don't know that I'd reallycall that a sleep divorce
because it's so short term.
But you know, this is somethingabout this situation is that it
doesn't actually have to belong term to be considered a
(02:36):
sleep divorce.
So let's go into it.
Why do people do it?
Generally it's for improvingtheir sleep and in fact, about
53% of people that were surveyedthere was a survey, I think it
was about 1500 people in thesurvey in the US and just under
53% of the survey respondentswho started a sleep divorce say
(02:59):
that it improved their sleepquality, that it improved their
sleep quality, and about 1.4% ofrespondents have started a
sleep divorce or sleepingseparately from their partner
and maintained it in the pastyear.
And the research also showedthat adults who've maintained a
sleep divorce average about 37minutes of sleep more each night
(03:23):
than when they shared a bed.
Now, this is kind of I'm justreading a whole bunch of stats
here and it's kind of a bitboring.
But for those of you, andespecially in perimenopause and
menopause, if you are strugglingwith sleep, as I have, you will
do anything to get a goodnight's sleep right.
And often and I hear this a lotfrom the women that come into
(03:47):
my program, the Glow Protocoloften their partner is part of
the problem with their sleep.
So it's not just that they'vegot hormonal disruption or other
things stress, for example oroften it's the nutrition.
Actually that's not quite rightor there's gut health issues
all of these things can causedisruption to sleep.
(04:08):
But of course, if you have apartner that snores, for example
, or if you have a partnerthat's a shift worker, that's
coming in late or getting upreally early if I've got one
client I think she said herpartner gets up at like 3 or
3.45 to go to the gym.
So there are many, many reasonsthat you may kind of consider
(04:31):
getting a sleep divorce, whereyou sleep in separate beds so
that you can get a better sleep.
And gosh, if I could get anaverage of 37 minutes.
It doesn't sound a lot, butwhen you're really struggling to
sleep, an extra 37 minutes ofsleep would be pretty amazing, I
(04:52):
reckon.
And the thing is, and one of thethings that this research
showed, is that if you go into asleep divorce with an open mind
and an expectation that it maynot be permanent, that you may
decide that you know you want tocome back to sharing the bed or
whatever.
The good news is that, again,what this research showed is
(05:16):
that around a quarter of peoplewho had been in a sleep divorce
ended up sharing a bed again,and mostly because they just
missed each other.
But when they kind of startedsharing a bed again, their sleep
still had improved.
They were still getting I thinkit was in the realm of about 10
(05:41):
or 15 minutes, 10 to 12 minutesmore sleep than when they slept
separately.
And many about 40% of thepeople that sleep ended their
sleep divorce, said their sleepquality also improved.
So there are quite a fewbenefits to having a sleep
(06:05):
divorce and then even gettingback into the same bed again for
sleep.
And some people even respondedin this survey that they chose
to have sleep divorce forseasonal reasons, such as
seasonal allergies, you know,and there was one couple that
was saying that there was.
(06:25):
Every spring one partner getsreally bad allergies, so for
about six weeks they sleepseparately and then they're back
in the same bed again, so itcan be a seasonal thing and that
still comes under that bannerof having a sleep divorce.
And what is really interestingis that people are now even when
they're looking at homeswhether they're renting or
(06:48):
buying, when they're looking athomes, they're actually looking
at how many rooms so thatpotentially they can have a
sleep divorce and each partnerhas their own room so that they
can really get that improvedsleep.
And we know, you know, sleep islike one of the cornerstones of
(07:09):
good health.
Sleep is really reallyimportant for many, many chronic
illnesses, particularly forweight management.
We know that there are so manythings that go on in our bodies
when we sleep, which is one ofthe really big drawbacks of
perimenopause and for some,menopause is the poor sleep that
(07:31):
women are getting is actuallyone of the contributing factors
to weight gain and it's notbecause and I know that I
believe they.
Certainly I thought as apractitioner this is many years
ago is that the reason peoplewho didn't sleep well had a
tendency to gain weight.
I just thought it was becausethey were at the fridge and
(07:54):
probably because what I used todo when I couldn't sleep and
this is probably 10 years ago Iused to get up and have a piece
of toast or have some yogurt ordo something like that, which I
now know is actually going tocompound the problem because
it's going to bump up my bloodsugar.
But the research that they'vedone with the relationship
between sleep and weight gain,it's actually got nothing to do
(08:17):
with any food intake thathappens during the night,
because it happens also withpeople that don't get up and
have food in the middle of thenight.
So there are actually metabolicprocesses that go on in our
bodies while we're asleep.
In fact, there's more than justmetabolic processes going on.
There's a whole bunch of stuffgoing on and what it can do is
really impact your blood sugarand that means that during the
(08:39):
day A, because your blood sugaris impacted, you'll probably
feel hungry, so you'll eat moreB.
You're probably going to feelmore tired, and the thing that
many people do when they feeltired is they reach for
additional food, and generallyit's going to be carbs, which
are not ideal if you're tryingto lose weight.
So there's a few issues at play.
(09:04):
But it's a really interestingconcept to me, this concept of
the sleep divorce, because Ifeel like in the past, sleeping
in separate rooms was consideredbasically the death knell for
the relationship.
Right, but based on the mostrecent research and this is from
(09:26):
last year they're actuallysaying that if you communicate
really well and this is thesecret, the secret is
communication If you communicatereally well about what the
reasons are why you might wantto sleep in separate rooms is
(09:48):
important for a start, so thatthere's no misunderstanding
between the partners, but alsowhat's really important as a
couple is to preserve thecritical time that you spend
together in bed before either ofyou falls asleep, right?
So having some sort of criticalnot critical some ritualistic
(10:12):
almost time that you would spendtogether, so it's not just
watching TV and then one of yougoes to bed and then the other
goes to bed and there's no sortof communication, so actually
having it's a bit similar, Iguess, to a sleep routine, where
there's certain things that youdo that tell your mind that
you're going to bed and it helpsyou go to sleep.
But yeah, if you are spendingsome time together in bed before
(10:38):
either of you falls asleep andthen the person that falls
asleep sort of last goes intotheir other room, that is seen
to be one of the secrets formanaging a sleep divorce
successfully, so that it doesn'tactually kind of damage the
(10:59):
relationship Sometimes.
Another reason for a sleepdivorce is because and again
it's really important inperimenopause and menopause is
the difference in bodytemperatures, and I know for
many women, their partner, ifit's a man, often has a higher
(11:20):
sort of I don't want to say ahigh body temperature, but
they're more of a hot sleeper,if you know what I mean.
And so if you both havedifferent needs in terms of the
heat and the bedding, that youneed to keep your body
temperature in the right sort ofspace for sleep, because you
(11:43):
need to be cool, you need todrop the body temperature a
little bit in order to go tosleep, and particularly in
perimenopause and menopause,obviously there can be that
whole disruption that goes onduring the night, with the hot
flushes and with night sweatsand things like that.
(12:03):
And so there's something calledthe Scandinavian sleep method,
and I've seen this from a fewdifferent sources.
So it does seem to be a thingthat this Scandinavian sleep
method.
I actually thought it wassomething made up.
Yeah, this is something thatI'm going to explain now, the
(12:27):
Scandinavian sleep method,because you know, if you've got
and I think the stats aresomething like one in three
Americans report that theirpartner negatively affects their
sleep, and there can be many,many reasons, as I've already
outlined in this pod already orsometimes it's even as simple as
someone just keeps hogging thedoona, you know.
(12:49):
So you're left with no coveringand you're getting too cold.
So, the Scandinavian sleepmethod, I actually I love that.
I think it's the alliterationthat I really love.
But, um, essentially what it isis, um, instead of just sharing
a single blanket or a doona orwhatever it is that you use at
(13:10):
night, you and your partner eachhave your own.
So it's not like the bed's madeup with two separate sheets and
things, so you completelyseparated it.
It's just that one of you has adoona, maybe you have a like a
thicker doona or a thickerblanket and the other partner
and generally it works best.
If you have, like, a larger bed, it can work on a queen, but
(13:36):
it's apparently much better, asyou can imagine, if you had a
king-sized bed and then you useeither a single or a
double-sized, whether it's ablanket or whether it's a doona
or whatever, at the level ofthickness that you want.
So if you want a heavier one,you can do that.
I pretty much, when I wasreflecting and thinking about
(13:58):
this for this topic, for thispodcast episode, I think I'm in
a situation where I'm probablyusing some of these principles
because I have a weightedblanket, which I've talked about
before, and my husband hates it.
He does not want that at all.
So I absolutely love myweighted blanket and it's
(14:19):
probably I don't know what itisn't.
You don't kind of buy them aslike being for a single or a
double bed.
It just comes as a size, so Iguess it covers up more than
kind of half of our bed, butwhen I'm actually in it it
cocoons me, so it feels like I'min my own little cocoon and I
(14:42):
think it's a very similar kindof experience of this
Scandinavian sleep strategy, inthat I've got the weighted
blanket, but we do have the samekind of coverlet or doona going
over both of us.
But I'm in a little cocoonbecause I've got my weighted
blanket on and that means whenhe and I've noticed this when
he's moving around in the bed, Idon't feel any of that movement
(15:06):
of the covers, whereas at timesI do go from.
You know, sometimes I have amonth or two where I don't use
that weighted blanket and it'sreally noticeable to me that you
know when he rolls over orwhatever.
So it's, I never really thoughtabout it that much before, but
when I think about it this isprobably how it feels to be in
(15:27):
using the Scandinavian sleepmethod is that you have your own
blanket or doona.
When you move, you're notdisturbing the other person and
it definitely helps improvesleep because if you're a light
sleeper, you're not going to bewoken by that movement.
So it was really interesting tome that the Scandinavian sleep
(15:47):
method, which apparently getsused in places like Sweden,
norway, denmark, other parts ofEurope apparently it's very,
very common to do this.
Uh, but you know it is.
I think maybe if you'reconsidering a sleep divorce,
maybe consider the Scandinaviansleep method and try that,
(16:12):
because it definitely, in myexperience, reduces the amount
of movement that you're feelingfrom the other person in the bed
, so you're not getting woken upas much and it might be if
you're just not ready for thesleep divorce.
I've got to say I've loved thenights that we've slept in
(16:32):
separate beds, just, you know,to have that bed to yourself and
not have any of that extra kindof noise.
And I used to travel a lot forwork.
So I was away almost every weekfor a few nights when I was in
corporate land and I did lovesleeping in the hotel beds on my
own land and that I did lovesleeping in the hotel beds on my
(16:55):
own.
So I definitely think I'm kindof recreating that a little bit
in the way the bed's set up atthe moment.
But perhaps for yourself, if youdon't use a weighted blanket
and you don't really need one,maybe having the two separate
dunas or blankets or whatevermight be something you could
consider.
Or maybe a sleep divorce is foryou.
Again, if you're going toapproach that with your partner,
(17:16):
obviously you might want tojust be very considerate with
your language so that they don'tthink you know it's a permanent
kind of you know relocationbecause of relationship issues,
obviously?
If there are, then that's adifferent scenario, but this is,
if it's just purely for sleep,then I think why not give it a
(17:37):
go, because we know that it isso, so important for our health
to get a good night's sleepfrequently.
So I hope that that may havebeen helpful for some of you.
For some of you it might havegone boring, but for those of us
that really struggle with sleep, any little things, any
(17:58):
incremental strategies that youcan implement that might give
you just that extra depth ofsleep, that improved quality of
sleep, that improved length ofsleep, that ability to get back
to sleep more easily once youwake particularly if you're
doing a regular 3 am wake uplike I used to do then, yeah,
(18:19):
any kind of small improvement isgoing to make a world of
difference.
So if you know someone that'sstruggling with sleep, feel free
to share this episode with them.
I grow by word of mouth, so Iwould absolutely love that.
And, yeah, enjoy the rest ofyour week.
I'll be back on Thursday withQ&A.
(18:43):
Thanks so much for joining metoday on the Ageless and Awesome
podcast.
If you liked today's episode,please make sure you click the
little plus button if you're onApple Podcasts, or the follow
button if you're on Spotify, sothat you get each new episode
delivered to you every week.
If you like free stuff, thenhead to the show notes and click
the link to receive my freeRadiant Reset Hormone Detox
(19:05):
Guide for Perimenopausal Women.
Or if you'd like to continuethe discussion, head over to
Instagram and DM me atSusieGardenWellness.
I'd love to connect with you.
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