One assumption about being in a couple is that you and your partner sleep together. As in, literally sleep together — having your own side of the bed, drifting off together, waking up with them by your side. It all sounds very cozy and romantic, but sleeping next to someone every night also has its downsides. Snoring is a big one; so are preferences in temperature, cuddling, bed firmness, bedtimes, wake-up times, alarm habits… we could go on.
Sometimes it’s just more convenient to sleep in separate rooms, and more and more couples have been opting for this solution. According to research from the Better Sleep Council, more than 25 percent of couples have different sleep spaces, and a New York Times survey found that two-thirds of the couples that sleep separately do so every night. But even as it becomes more common and less stigmatized (notice how we’re not calling it sleep divorce, with all the negative connotation that comes with that term), this arrangement can still be a confusing one at first and even cause tension in couples as they figure out how to make it work.
That’s the case with one couple on Reddit, who are running into issues over a key rule they set when they decided to try sleeping separately. The husband (aka our OP, which is Reddit-speak for the author of the post) came to Reddit’s AITA forum for some impartial judgment on the matter, and Reddit didn’t disappoint. Keep reading for the full story.
