Two recent articles caught my eye over the last couple of days. They both focus on sleeping and health.

One my big key messages from this website and in my book is:

“EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET ENOUGH SLEEP TO BE HEALTHY”

 

 

 

I know that there are many other facets of life that contribute to good health, but sleep is just so important and is one of the foundations of the physiology of human beings. (Even Maslow recognised how critical it is – sitting on that terribly important lower level of his well famous pyramid – check it out)

So here are the two articles.

Bad sleepers have small testicles, low sperm count

and…

Have you considered a ‘sleep divorce’?

From the ‘small testicle’ report… Those who frequently retired late, woke many times in the night or struggled to nod off in the first place, had a sperm count 25 per cent lower than those who had no trouble.

From the ‘sleep divorce’ article… The intimacy established by sleeping together is for many a cherished and valuable aspect of being a couple. The challenge is to create and maintain strong, healthy, and compatible sleep habits for a shared sleeping space.

I know I am taking one sentence only from each article and that is never fair nor representative of the whole message. My intent is not to misrepresent either author or the the purpose of the article.

My point is that there are often conflicting messages about why we should be achieving good quality sleep and then how we should be getting it.

Yep! It would be great if we could all create and maintain strong, healthy, and compatible sleep habits for a shared sleeping space.

But! What if, as a couple, you can’t?

Do you risk your health or do you look for other ways of making sure your relationship is strong, healthy and compatible. I say there are many other ways of doing this beyond the bed, and beyond the bedroom.

I maintain that the core social message about bed sharing is ‘that it’s what good couples do’ and I just don’t agree with that message.

Good couples take care of themselves and each other by being healthy (there’s a whole other post in that idea). It’s like making sure that you eat well or don’t engage in too many risk-taking behaviours, so you can hang around long enough for your loved one to oh, you know… spend a life together and do fun and productive stuff!

I know these ideas are always a balance challenge – every day, week, month and year.

I don’t advocate cotton-wool-wrapping as a lifestyle.

But I do always advocate the right to choose without judgement.

So much to weigh up!