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How Sleep Affects Your Love Life

Let’s say you have a hot date tonight. Yay! You’re going out for drinks at some swanky spot downtown. You’re excited…and a tad bit nervous.

According to the experts, your dating experience could go very differently, depending on the quality of your sleep the night before! Dating is far from simple, but here’s a deliberately oversimplified glance at the difference sleep can make:

Scenario 1. You got a great night’s rest last night, so while on the date you laugh easily, think clearly and are pretty darn charming, if you do say so yourself. People who get more/higher quality sleep are seen as more healthy and attractive overall. You two really like each other, and that first date turns into date # 2.

Scenario 2. Your dog was barking while chasing rabbits in his sleep and your neighbors were all party-hearty next door so you didn’t get much rest last night. On the date, you have trouble deciding what to order, feel sluggish and are slower to laugh and respond in conversation.

Poor sleep can dampen your cognition and therefore, your sense of humor. It can also make you look a tad worse-for-wear. This doesn’t mean the date went poorly, but you could’ve had more fun and put a better foot forward, for sure.

Scenario 3. Research has shown that even just one night of poor sleep has the same impact on men as alcohol, which can lead to bad decision-making. (Especially if you have a drink or two on top of that!) It may also lead to lower testosterone levels and libido in men. So yeah, those things could affect your love life…

Now, let’s say you’ve been dating someone for a while. Maybe you even married that hot date from years ago. So now, you’re sharing a bed with your S.O. regularly.

Here’s how that adjustment might impact—or be impacted by—your sleep:

  1. Sharing a bed can lead to feelings of stability and safety, so you might be less stressed and sleep better. This could mean you age slower, because when you don’t get enough sleep and/or are stressed, your body releases a stress hormone called Cortisol that can lead to wrinkles by breaking down skin collagen.
  2. Sharing a bed can also lead to more disturbances at night as your partner snores or kicks or sleeptalks, which could mean you sleep worse. (So just buy a king mattress and earplugs and all of your problems are solved, haha.)
  3. Research indicates that poor sleep hurts women more than men. If you’re a woman, being in a stable relationship has been shown to decrease sleep disturbances. Yet women who are night owls tend to take more risks and are less likely to be in long-term relationships. Could there be a vicious cycle relationship here??
  4. An extra hour of sleep has been linked to a 14-percent increase in the likelihood of having sex with your partner the next day.

And there you have it! Sleep and love help each other out. Rest and romance go together like bread and butter. Just one more reason to make sleeping a priority.

Sleep tight, Urbanites!