Zen and the art of sleeping alone

When I wake up in the morning, it is usually to the brief beeping of an alarm, a steady (and desperate purring) or a little face next to mine asking me for pancakes. In all of these instances, my husband is still asleep.

I've always been a light sleeper. To this day, my husband reminds me of the time I woke up to the sound of him taking off his belt. (He still can't believe that shooshing sound woke me.) He and my son are sound sleepers, and I am sometimes jealous of their ability to sleep through a cat crawling around the bed because she is unhappy with the fact that she is on a diet.

This is my cat. She likes to sleep in the middle of the bed.

But I digress. The point is that I am able to leave the bed in the morning and start my day without interrupting my husband's sleep. And one of the reasons that is possible is because we have a king-sized bed. I've talked jokingly before about not co-sleeping with your husband (and was pleased when I saw a similar slate.com article on the same topic last week), but now I feel like I have to go a bit on the defensive.

You see, a recent British study has suggested that sleep position is a reflection of a couple's intimacy. Survey respondents who slept close to their partners reported being the happiest. The results suggest that couples who drift apart in bed may also be drifting apart when they are awake.

Or, you know, they might just be really tired and need a good night's sleep.

These are the types of surveys that make me laugh: The ones that are so vague (did any of these couples have children and were those children trying to sleep in the middle of their parents' bed?) that they are really only good for a fun read. I feel the same way about the theory indicating that babies cry to keep their parents from having sex, and thus, more babies. Was it a worthy read as I thought back to all those late-night feedings with my son and sleep-starved days? Yes, I laughed, but I'm not inclined to believe it.

So, I'll keep my spot in the bed next to my wonderful husband, sleeping not too close to him and not too far away - within reaching distance, but each of us with our own space. Because you know what makes us a really happy couple? A good night's sleep.

When's the last time you slept alone in a bed? Was it a good or bad night's sleep for you?