Study reveals your lovable pet dog or cat could lead to restless nights

A new study published in the journal Human-Animal Interaction shows that your lovable pet dog or cat can lead to you having more restless nights than nights graced with long periods of peaceful sleep.

The research, led by Dr. Lauren Wisnieski of Lincoln Memorial University, US, is particularly focused on pet ownership in the US and data were taken from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted in 2005-2006.

Dr. found out Wisnieski, Assistant Professor of Public Health and Research and Affiliation, that owning a dog is associated with a greater likelihood of having a sleep disorder and having trouble sleeping while owning a cat is associated with a higher chance of having leg jerks.

While the causal nature of pet ownership in sleep quality and sleep disorders cannot be established, the results of the study are consistent with previous studies that have found that pet ownership has a negative effect on sleep quality.

said Dr. Wisnieski, “Previous studies on the relationship between pet ownership and sleep quality and sleep disorders have had mixed results.

“On the one hand, the dogs and cats can be beneficial for the owner’s sleep quality due to social support that pets provide—pets offer a sense of security and companionship, which can result in improvements in anxiety, stress and depression levels. But on the other hand, pets can disturb the sleep of their owners.

“This cross-sectional study aims to determine whether there is a relationship between dog and cat ownership and sleep quality and sleep disorders—including taking into account aspects such as snoring, waking at night, requiring sleeping pills and leg jerking.”

The research developed multivariable logistic regression models that also included sleep quality factors such as feeling restless, feeling sleepy, not getting enough sleep, taking longer than 15 minutes to fall asleep and getting less than six hours of sleep on average.

Dr. suggests Wisnieski suggests that the differences in the correlation between sleep quality and cat versus dog ownership may be because cats tend to be more active at night.

Furthermore, he found that there were fewer differences in indicators of sleep quality between cat and non-cat owners compared to dog and non-dog owners.

Dr. added. Wisnieski, “If the casual relationship is established by further investigation, the results will have implications for clinician recommendations for treating patients with poor sleep quality.

“Additionally, educational resources can be developed to inform pet owners about the dangers of sleep disturbances and offer potential solutions, such as placing the pet or restricting access to the bedroom at night.”

In conclusion, the study acknowledges that there may be potential positive aspects of co-sleeping with a pet, but data obtained from NHANES does not indicate whether owners actually sleep with their dogs or cats.

“In the future, studies will benefit from measuring the human-animal bond, so we can understand how its strength affects sleep quality,” added Dr. Wisnieski.

Provided by CABI