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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Partner’s Empathy Helps With Sleep, Study Finds

(CN) — The level of empathy you feel from your partner may be affecting your sleeping habits and your physical health as a result, a recent study suggests.

Quality, uninterrupted sleep is necessary for most aspects of health, but it's especially important to avoid colds and for general physical recovery.

However, restorative sleep can be disrupted by feelings of insecurity, stress and the presence of threats — whether emotional or physical.

In a study published Wednesday, researchers present findings that analyze the connection between getting quality sleep and a nurturing partner, and vice versa.

"Having responsive partners who would be available to protect and comfort us should things go wrong is the most effective way for us humans to reduce anxiety, tension and arousal," said lead author Erme Selcuk, a researcher at Middle East Technical University in Turkey.

For humans, the strongest source of feelings of safety and security is responsive social partners — particularly parents during childhood or romantic partners during adulthood. When they're unresponsive, stress can mount.

"Our findings show that individuals with responsive partners experience lower anxiety and arousal, which in turn improves their sleep quality," Selcuk said.

The team's findings support the results from the past several years by an international collaboration of researchers, including Selcuk.

"Taken together, the corpus of evidence we obtained in recent years suggests that our best bet for a happier, healthier and a longer life is having a responsive partner," Selcuk said.

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