Sharing your bed with your pet and kids may not be a bad idea

On the surface it may appear that sleeping with your pet or kids is unusual, but there may be positive psychological benefits from this.

It has been reported by Springer that there are pros and cons to sleeping together with animals or children which researchers have reviewed. Lead author Bradley Smith of Central Queensland University in Australia has said that in spite of unnecessary apprehension there are benefits to adults sleeping with their pets and kids.

Over the course of time and across different cultures there has been an evolution of sleeping arrangements between people. Sleep was generally a public and communal matter in medieval Europe. Visitors were often received in the bedroom and many people often slept in the same bed. It was felt that warmth and personal security were increased in this way.

In many cultures across the world sleeping with children from the time of birth has been seen as the norm. Overall shared sleeping arrangements are seen more often in collectivist Asian countries than in contemporary Western cultures which are individualistic in nature. Sleep is often seen as a private experience in the West which helps the body and mind to get optimal rest.

Smith and his co-authors have used dogs to demonstrate an example of human-animal co-sleeping. Human-canine co-sleeping has been compared with adult-child co-sleeping. It has been argued that these two types of co-sleeping share common positive factors.

It is the position of Smith that basic psychological needs are fulfilled by co-sleeping which also helps to reinforce and maintain social relations. He says that people have shared the places where they sleep with other people and other animals throughout the course of history. It has been proposed by Smith and his colleagues that human-animal and adult-child co-sleeping should be viewed as legitimate and socially significant types of co-sleeping.

This study has been published in the journal Human Nature. Most adults at one time or another share their bed with a partner or child, and many adults also sleep with their pets. In an historical context it has been implied present sociocultural concepts of sleep being seen as an individual and private matter have evolved from a process of becoming civilized.

However, Smith and his colleagues have proposed that human-animal and adult-child co-sleeping should be seen as legitimate and socially significant types of co-sleeping. It’s comforting for many people to understand that co-sleeping with their pets and children can be viewed as a psychogoically positive and civilized experience.