"We've unlearnt how to sleep," says Kathryn Pinkham, insomnia consultant and founder of The Insomnia Clinic.
We're working all hours, then texting as we brush our teeth, and, she points out, "losing the routine around bedtime". A third of us now manifest sleep problems - while our "other halves" take the hit. Insomniacs are four times more likely to develop mental health issues, and 60 per cent likelier to be obese. Memory, concentration and motivation suffer, notes Pinkham, and "all this impacts on a relationship". Ironic, then, that insomnia often starts "when someone meets a partner with a different sleep schedule to their own". Honeymoon over, the couple's bed can become a battlefield.
For many couples, it's the coming of kids that signals the end of co-sleeping. One mate of mine ended up sleeping on the floor by her colicky baby's cot for months. Meanwhile her husband complained "because he missed having me to cuddle". My hairdresser Tracy, 35, ends up comforting her toddler twins so frequently, she's moved each into their own double bed. (When sniffles strike, why pretend she won't be getting in with them?). Our own house can feel like Spaghetti Junction some nights - one kid rolling out of the top bunk, while another projectile vomits below. My husband sleeps through the lot. Bless the blokes - doing the sleeping, so we women don't have to! All blokes, that is, save for Nigel.
A dear family friend, Nigel is a 52-year-old accountant and practising insomniac. "I've been hooked on Night Nurse for 20 years," he confides. When first married, he'd listen to "rainforest sounds" on his cassette player, only for his wife to rail against the scrape of turning tape and the escaping cry of bonobos. He invested in Mini-Discs, "but they whirred, she said". Updating to an iPod produced loud clicks and a lot of "Turn that f***ing thing off", so Nigel turned in desperation to a sleep clinic. They sent him home loaded down with breathing apparatus. He passed a long, sleepless night with tubes emerging from his ears, mouth and nose, while his wife vibrated furiously beside him. "It was," he conceded, "the lowest point." So why do it? Why keep sharing a bed? "We both find it hugely comforting," says Nigel.
It's a conjugal catch-22 for so many couples: We love the idea of cuddling up together, but hate each other by morning. So are we actually risking our relationship in our rush to conform to a romantic ideal? And whom exactly are we seeking to impress? Among all my married peers, I could find only one who admitted to separate sleeping. "People's first response is suspicion," says Tabitha, a happily married mother of four. Second response, however, is envy. "Oh my God", they say. "If I had a spare bed, I'd be in it every night."
Exhausted by her husband's contrary sleep patterns, Tabitha moved into the spare room three years ago.
She concedes her husband would rather still snuggle but their sex life hasn't suffered. "I just invite him up," says Tabitha. "Plus he's on a four-day week, which helps."
Flexible work hours can put the bounce back into any bedroom. (By 9pm, I am a stone, but catch me after elevenses and I'm rabid). So does sleeping together increase your odds of having sex? Not if your nights are disturbed, says Peter Saddington, Relate psychosexual counsellor and chair of the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists. More and more couples are "just too stressed and tired" to ... well, couple.
Keen to batten down my husband's hatches - aware he's only got three nights at home before flying off to his next job - I call in the insomnia consultant. Pinkham prescribes "a sleep cleanse" to synch up our sleep drive: Mat and I are to stay downstairs together until 10.30pm (without drinking!) then head upstairs and put ourselves to sleep without aid of book, tech or television. Simple.
Except it's not, is it? First night back after a work trip, Mat wants to stay up late, and revel in being home. But I'm so shattered by the week, just saying "10.30pm" makes me want to cry. We part.
Night two: no cleansing occurs. ("It's Saturday night," says Mat. "There's no way I'm not having a beer.") The boiler's broken, so I go to bed early, hugging our youngest for warmth, then wake at 3am - for good.
Night three: we finally achieve cleansing. Mostly because we're both shattered, and Mat has to get up at 4am. So come 10.30pm, we retire to bed. And sleep. By 2am, I'm awake again, reading The Forsyte Saga in the spare room. Two hours later, I'm waving Mat off to the airport. Knock-out marital action? We'll try again next weekend.
Some names have been changed.
Four top tips from Kathryn Pinkham
1. Stick to your own sleep pattern.
Some of us need eight hours, some only five. If your partner needs less sleep than you, go to bed together - have a cuddle/put the day to rest - then let your partner leave to finish his or her evening, while you drift off.
2. If your spouse's snoring is keeping you awake, don't seethe with resentment, remove yourself.
Get out of bed. Do something relaxing (don't drink caffeine) and return to bed when tired.
3. Don't focus too much on sleep.
The more you analyse the "problem" - and try to fix it - the worse it gets.
4. Stop watching the clock.
Poor sleepers wake up and check the time, which increases our arousal and makes us stressed about the hours left remaining.
