07 Jun For Better or Worse: Sleeping With Your Pet May Affect Your Sleep

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Lois E. Krahn, M.D.
Sleep Disorders Center
Mayo Clinic, Arizona

MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?

Dr. Krahn: Patients are now more likely now to own multiple pets rather than a single dog or cat. Data from other sources (like the pet products group) confirm the same trend.

MedicalResearch: Were any of the findings unexpected?

Dr. Krahn:  In general people love their pets and are truly loathe to say anything negative about their companion animals.  It is almost like they are being disloyal to their pet(s) to say anything negative.  However when asked to comment about where their pet sleeps and how well they sleep they 10% concede that there are irritating issues.  The increase is likely because having more than one pet increases the probability that there will be unwelcome noise or movement.  The willingness of people to admit that their presumably beloved pets is anything but perfect was a bit of a surprise.

MedicalResearch: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Krahn: My view is that having a companion animal in the bedroom can be good (overcome loneliness, stress reduction, relaxing) or negative (excessive noise, movement that wake up a patient).

Whether a pet should sleep in the bedroom or on the bed depends on the quality of sleep of the human, the quality of sleep or sleep problems of the animal, the size of the pet, the number of pets and their interactions, the size of the bed/ bedroom, the demands/noise of the pet if excluded).

All of these issues should be explored and weighed.  Acquiring data that show that pets can actually help patients and promote relaxation, hence sleep, would be helpful.

Citation:
Abstract presented at the
29th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies,

Last Updated on June 7, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD