Family members in crisis; partners with sleep apnoea or ADHD; noisy neighbours — all of these can cause sleep problems. We tend to think of sleep as personal, a process confined to our bodies. But sleep occurs in a social context, even for people who live alone.
We share time zones; work standardised hours that incline most of us to sleep at similar times; abide by noise ordinances at night; limit light, sound and rolling over to accommodate bed partners; and suffer with early rubbish trucks. Even our private ruminations as we lie in bed with insomnia are often about other people. As a sleep psychologist , I treat individuals.
But the irony is that often their problems are inflamed by other people. Even within the milieu of a cooperative household, one person’s sleep can occur at the expense of another person’s sleep. Examples include snoring and caring for an infant throughout the night.
Emotions may run high on all sides and complicate interventions. But we can make choices that might benefit everyone’s sleep..
