There has been an emergence of a new trend in divorce matters and that is of sleep deprivation and the impact on relationships. It is all very well when a new baby is born that people choose to sleep in separate rooms.
This can accommodate both the person who is working and does not want to lose sleep but also the mother who may be breastfeeding and who wants an uninterrupted and smooth transition during the night.
The difficulty comes if the transient sleeping in separate rooms becomes permanent.
In many of the divorces in which my firm has acted the parties drifted into separate rooms over a period of time then the sexual relationships between them ceased and then the end of the relationship came upon them.
Some couples particularly those in the Royal Family have always slept in separate bedrooms so that they can carry out their work or as a way of living.
Some find it helpful to have uninterrupted sleep and that it does not impact on their relationship at all.
However for others, the slow drifting away from each other into separate bedrooms can spell the end of the relationship.
Since Covid, there has been more of an explosion of people complaining that their partner’s snoring has interrupted their sleep to such an extent that they cannot sleep in the same bedroom any longer.
It would seem that some partners do not avail themselves of the various medicinal items that are available to deal with the problem. It can lead to frustration and lack of sleep can lead to terminal woes.
When a client comes to us complaining that they want to end the marriage because of sleep deprivation caused by snoring we normally send them off to experts who can assist with this problem.
If couples have reached the end of the road they will not wish to do anything about the issue and simply use this as an excuse to end the marriage.
Sometimes women going through menopause can also have difficulty with sleeping which interrupts their partner’s sleep leading to endless rows about sleep deprivation.
Some women who go on to take remedies for this find that their relationship improves substantially but those who choose not to deal with this issue can often find that it leads to difficulties in the marriage, stress and the end of a relationship.
The moral of this is that if you can do something about issues that cause your lack of sleep that it is important you investigate these rather than to allow it to severely impact on your relationship.