Sleeping with four-legged animals, the psychological advantages. But in some cases it should be avoided – breaking latest news

According to a study by neuropsychiatrists Mary W. Rose of the University of Cleveland and Carlos Schenck of the University of Minnesota, published in 2015 in the scientific journal Sleepthe so-called co-sleeping (sleeping together) – term used in pediatrics to indicate the practice of making the small child sleep in the parents’ bed – also useful for dogs and owners. Since then, many studies have analyzed the pros and cons of sleeping with our four-legged friends. Many certainties are now undermined by a research by the Australian University of Queensland, just published in Anthrozos, the Journal dell’International Society for Anthrozoology, who used for the first time what can be defined as a polysomnographic co-registration of man and dog during sleep. They stay valid the many psychological advantages of dog/human co-sleepingfor example: qWhen the dog crouches at the owner’s feet it reduces his stressby increasing oxytocin, the hormone of happiness and empathy – and lowers blood pressurewhich also happens during the day when we caress it.

Depression, loneliness and sleep

In a world populated by more and more singles, the canine co-sleeping combats owner depression from loneliness and, according to American researchers, also useful in sleep disorders
such as the OSA, an acronym for obstructive sleep apneai.e. obstructive morpheic apnea, narcolepsy or PTSD nightmares. Until now, the so-called SAs (acronym of Service Animals) cio service animalsby ESAs (acronym of Emotional Support Animals) cio emotional support animals. I dogs they fall into the latter group being those better trained to perform a psychological support function against anxiety and depression.

When the owner who disturbs the dog

There are also cases in which dogs no longer want to sleep with their owners affected by parasomnias that lead them to aggressive and violent behavior during REM sleep (generally the spouses pay the price for their incongruous sleepwalking). In such cases the dogs return to accept the co-sleeping only when the owner has solved his problemsreturning to a calm sleep thanks to drug treatment.

Nocturnal awakenings

Generally, however, i Dogs spend 20% of the night in a state of activity, probably due to the legacy of continuous alertness deriving from when they lived in captivity and had to defend themselves from possible dangers. It makes us that in case of co-sleeping, during this part of the night, the sleep of their owners is disturbed and these end up waking up on average 4.3 times more than usual. This was verified by Australian researchers using a special portable polysomnograph connected via the web that recorded the electroencephalographic waves of the sleeping dog and master: they saw that the awakenings of the dogs generally anticipate those of the masters by two and a half minutes. The study was conducted on 5 women for seven consecutive nights: the interesting thing is that the latter were completely unaware of their frequent nocturnal awakenings and in the morning they claimed to have had an excellent night’s sleep alongside their faithful life companions. Their polysomnographic measurements instead they demonstrated the opposite, a fact also confirmed by the low scores obtained by women in the classic sleep quality measurement tests.

Advantages and disadvantages

The researchers conclude by saying that, although the study is based on a limited sample, the precise ways in which it was conducted must henceforth push towards a more careful evaluation of the pros and cons of dog/human cosleeping: not all roses and flowers but it also hides pitfalls which should not overshadow the many benefits of this practice so far recognized, but rather push to one assessment based on the particular situation of each individual owner and each individual dog.
For example, the co-sleeping not indicated if the dog is not used to visiting the house as it happens when it has just arrived in the family, or if you suffer from allergies or are a light sleeper or if your dog has some illness, even trivial: anyone who has a dog knows well, for example, that even if only cold certainly does not know how to hold back his loud sneezes in the middle of the night, whether you are sleeping or not.