Hi there it's Matt here and welcome back to the podcast in a previous episode on

sleep and sex I discuss the so-called sleep divorce, the name of which I do not

particularly like, I have to say, but the general idea is that a sleep divorce can help prevent a real one.

By the way, coming back to the poor naming of this notion, I actually prefer the title that a friend of mine

and stellar podcaster suggested to me when I was on his show recently and that is the fantastic Tim Ferris.

His idea was to call it Furniture Polyamory. He is just genius with tons of phrases and a genius in general and a

lovely, lovely bloke so, I'm already drifting on to at the start of this episode.

Come back to the present topic.

So in today's episode, I want to revisit that topic, but with some greater depth of consideration,

both in terms of the sensitivity that the public has around it, but then also introduce a fascinating

new study that just came out that sheds I think some intriguing light on the idea of a sleep separation which is

my version of the term for a sleep divorce, a sleep separation. I think it's a little

less brutal in its phrasing. I'll come to that fascinating new finding that really helped me understand why it is that some folks will wish for this, but also

some folks will not go down the path of a sleep separation.

Again, I'm getting ahead of my skis.

Let's start with the taboo question of sleeping in separate rooms, the sensitivity of the public, it seems to this notion.

And some of that sensitivity is the belief that in a negative way it can change your relationship life and it can also change your sex life.

The idea that well if you're not sleeping together then I presume you're not sleeping together.

Let's explore this question and I want to note very early in the discussion that again I'm not advocating for one

or the other, I'm just going to provide you with the scientific evidence. Here when it comes to a sleep separation or a sleep

divorce there really is quite a diversity of preferences there is no one size fits all here.

But let me start with myth number one, which is that very few people actually want a sleep separation or want a sleep divorce. Not true.

...