Co-Sleeping with a pet: exploring the impact on youth sleep

OBJECTIVE

Despite a rise in pet ownership and adult literature indicating pet co-sleeping may lead to disrupted sleep, limited research has evaluated the impact of youth co-sleeping with an animal. This study evaluated whether a pet in the bedroom affects youth sleep.

METHODS

175 families completed measures of screen time, sleep problems, and parental sleep knowledge. Youth (M age = 9.51; 53.1% male) wore an ActiGraph and completed a sleep diary for 2 consecutive weeks. For youth who owned a pet dog, the dog wore an ActiGraph for the same 2 weeks. Youth were separated into 3 groups: those who slept with a pet on the bed, those with a pet in the room but not on the bed, and those with no pet in the bedroom.

RESULTS

Results suggest that youth with a pet on the bed have a shorter sleep duration, lower efficiency, and longer sleep onset latency than youth without a pet in the bedroom. A pet on the bed explained unique variance in sleep efficiency, duration, and latency when accounting for factors previously shown to impact youth sleep. Awakenings and self-reported sleep problems did not differ between groups. In dyadic analyses (n = 43), dog movement 1 min prior predicted child movement at night.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that having a pet on the bed is associated with more restless and shorter sleep. Though results should be replicated, clinicians should begin assessing pet sleeping location when addressing sleep concerns and provide families with information about the potential impact of pets on sleep.

Effect of pet therapy on sleep and life quality of elderly individuals

AIM

The study aimed to determine the sleep and life quality of elderly individuals living in a nursing home using pet therapy, a complementary and supportive therapy.

METHODS

The study was conducted with elderly individuals in a nursing home in Tokat province in Turkey. The study sample consisted of 59 elderly individuals, with 30 in the intervention group and 29 in the control group, who met the inclusion criteria. Pet therapy was applied to elderly individuals twice a week for 6 weeks for a total of 12 sessions as a randomized controlled trial to determine the effect of pet therapy on sleep and life quality. While pet therapy was applied to the individuals in the intervention group, the control group was no pet theraphy.

RESULTS

It was determined that the sleep and life quality of the individuals in the intervention group increased statistically and significantly. There was no statistically significant difference in the change in sleep and life quality of individuals in the control group. A statistically significant difference was determined between the intervention and control groups regarding sleep and life quality.

CONCLUSION

Pet therapy was determined to significantly improve the sleep and life quality of elderly individuals living in a nursing home. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2025; 25: 356-365.

Co-sleeping with pets, stress, and sleep in a nationally-representative sample of United States adults

This cross-sectional study tested the direct and stress-buffering effects of co-sleeping with pets on human sleep characteristics in a nationally-representative sample of United States adults. Participants completed questionnaires assessing their sleep characteristics, including perceived sleep quality, perceived sleep efficiency, insomnia severity, and multidimensional sleep health. We evaluated whether co-sleeping with pets was associated with sleep characteristics and whether co-sleeping with pets moderated the association of stress and sleep characteristics. Exploratory analyses examined whether sleep characteristics were impacted by number of pets, pet type, and bondedness to pets. Our final sample of 1591 participants (Mage = 46.4 years, SD = 17.5; 56% female; 76% White) included 758 participants who reported co-sleeping with pets (47.6%). Co-sleeping with pets was associated with poorer sleep characteristics-specifically, poorer perceived sleep quality and greater insomnia severity. Although higher levels of stress were associated with poorer sleep, we did not observe evidence for a stress-buffering effect of co-sleeping with pets. Exploratory analyses indicated that the negative impact of co-sleeping with pets on human sleep was associated with dog ownership but not cat ownership, more pronounced when individuals own a greater number of pets, and not impacted by bondedness to pets. Our findings contribute to emerging evidence for the impact of co-sleeping with pets on human sleep. Study was pre-registered at: https://aspredicted.org/3VN_WF6 .

A Preliminary Analysis of Psychiatric Service Dog Placements and Sleep Patterns of Partners of Veterans With PTSD

Partners of veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are at risk of a variety of challenges, and it is unknown whether psychiatric service dogs are disruptive to their sleep or provide similar benefits that are seen in the limited literature on veterans. As part of a larger clinical trial examining the efficacy of psychiatric service dogs for veterans with PTSD and their families, this study focused on sleep patterns of veterans' partners (n = 88), incorporating both subjective (clinically validated self-report surveys) and objective sleep measures (actigraphy). Linear regression was used to analyze differences in relation to group (intervention versus control) at follow up, controlling for baseline score. Results revealed no significant differences between groups for both the subjective surveys (p = 0.15; p = 0.75) and the objective actigraphy measures (p = 0.06-0.98). This suggests that psychiatric service dogs are not disruptive, nor do they provide any benefits to partner sleep. Partners had sleep patterns on par with national norms at baseline and remained at such levels at follow up. Ultimately, using both subjective and objective measures, we found no impact of psychiatric service dogs on the sleep of veterans' partners.

Assessing Pain Research: A Narrative Review of Emerging Pain Methods, Their Technosocial Implications, and Opportunities for Multidisciplinary Approaches

Pain research traverses many disciplines and methodologies. Yet, despite our understanding and field-wide acceptance of the multifactorial essence of pain as a sensory perception, emotional experience, and biopsychosocial condition, pain scientists and practitioners often remain siloed within their domain expertise and associated techniques. The context in which the field finds itself today-with increasing reliance on digital technologies, an on-going pandemic, and continued disparities in pain care-requires new collaborations and different approaches to measuring pain. Here, we review the state-of-the-art in human pain research, summarizing emerging practices and cutting-edge techniques across multiple methods and technologies. For each, we outline foreseeable technosocial considerations, reflecting on implications for standards of care, pain management, research, and societal impact. Through overviewing alternative data sources and varied ways of measuring pain and by reflecting on the concerns, limitations, and challenges facing the field, we hope to create critical dialogues, inspire more collaborations, and foster new ideas for future pain research methods.

Outcomes of a controlled trial with visiting therapy dog teams on pain in adults in an emergency department

CONTEXT

Pain is a primary reason individuals attend an Emergency Department (ED), and its management is a concern.

OBJECTIVES

Change in symptoms and physiologic variables at 3 time points pre-post a ten-minute St. John Ambulance therapy dog team visit compared to no visit in ED patients who experienced pain.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Using a controlled clinical trial design, pain, anxiety, depression and well-being were measured with the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (revised version) (ESAS-r) 11-point rating scales before, immediately after, and 20 minutes post- therapy dog team visit with Royal University Hospital ED patients participating in the study (n = 97). Blood pressure and heart rate were recorded at the time points. Control data was gathered twice (30 minutes apart) for comparison (n = 101). There were no group differences in age, gender or ethnicity among the control and intervention groups (respectively mean age 59.5/57.2, ethnicity 77.2% Caucasian/87.6%, female 43.6% /39.2%, male 56.4%/60.8%,).

INTERVENTION

10 minute therapy dog team visit in addition to usual care.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Change in reported pain from pre and post therapy dog team visit and comparison with a control group.

RESULTS

A two-way ANOVA was conducted to compare group effects. Significant pre- post-intervention differences were noted in pain for the intervention (mean changeint. = -0.9, SD = 2.05, p = .004, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.42, 1.32], ηp2 = 04) but not the control group. Anxiety (mean changeint. = -1.13, SD = 2.80, p = .005, 95% CI = [0.56, 1.64], ηp2 = .04), depression (mean changeint. = -0.72, SD = 1.71, p = .002, 95% CI = [0.39, 1.11], ηp2 = .047), and well-being ratings (mean changeint. = -0.87, SD = 1.84, p < .001, 95% CI = [0.49, 1.25], ηp2 = .07) similarly improved for the intervention group only. There were no pre-post intervention differences in blood pressure or heart rate for either group. Strong responders to the intervention (i.e. >50% reduction) were observed for pain (43%), anxiety (48%), depression (46%), and well-being (41%).

CONCLUSIONS

Clinically significant changes in pain as well as significant changes in anxiety, depression and well-being were observed in the therapy dog intervention compared to control. The findings of this novel study contribute important knowledge towards the potential value of ED therapy dogs to affect patients' experience of pain, and related measures of anxiety, depression and well-being.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This controlled clinical trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, registration number NCT04727749.

The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime: The effects of pet-human co-sleeping and bedsharing on sleep dimensions of children and adolescents

BACKGROUND

Pets are often thought to be detrimental to sleep. Up to 75% of households with children have a pet, and 30-50% of adults and children regularly share their bed with their pets. Despite these high rates, few studies have examined the effect of pet-human co-sleeping on pediatric sleep. This study compared subjective and objective sleep in youth who never, sometimes, or frequently co-slept with pets.

METHODS

Children (N = 188; aged 11-17 years; M = 13.25 years) and their parents answered standardized sleep questionnaires assessing timing, duration, onset latency, awakenings, and sleep quality. Children completed a home polysomnography (PSG) sleep study for one night and wore an actigraph for two weeks accompanied with daily sleep diary. Based on reported frequency of bedsharing with pets, children were stratified into three co-sleeping groups: never (65.4%), sometimes (16.5%), frequently (18.1%).

RESULTS

Overall, 34.6% of children reported co-sleeping with their pet sometimes or frequently. Results revealed largely identical sleep profiles across co-sleeping groups; findings were congruent across sleep measurement (subjective: child, parent report; objective: PSG, actigraphy). Effect sizes indicated that frequent co-sleepers had the highest overall subjective sleep quality, but longest PSG onset-latency compared to the sometimes group.

CONCLUSIONS

Co-sleeping with pets was prevalent in one third of children. Sleep dimensions were similar regardless of how frequently children reported sharing their bed with their pet. Future research should examine dyadic measurement of co-sleepers to derive causal evidence to better inform sleep recommendations.

Evaluation of the FitBark Activity Monitor for Measuring Physical Activity in Dogs

Accelerometers track changes in physical activity which can indicate health and welfare concerns in dogs. The FitBark 2 (FitBark) is an accelerometer for use with dogs; however, no studies have externally validated this tool. The objective of this study was to evaluate FitBark criterion validity by correlating FitBark activity data to dog step count. Dogs (n = 26) were fitted with a collar-mounted FitBark and individually recorded for 30 min using a three-phase approach: (1) off-leash room explore; (2) human-dog interaction; and (3) on-leash walk. Video analysis was used to count the number of times the front right paw touched the ground (step count). Dog step count and FitBark activity were moderately correlated across all phases (r = 0.65, p < 0.001). High correlations between step count and FitBark activity were observed during phases 1 (r = 0.795, p < 0.001) and 2 (r = 0.758, p < 0.001), and a low correlation was observed during phase 3 (r = 0.498, p < 0.001). In conclusion, the FitBark is a valid tool for tracking physical activity in off-leash dogs; however, more work should be done to identify the best method of tracking on-leash activity.

Co-Sleeping between Adolescents and Their Pets May Not Impact Sleep Quality

Pet–owner co-sleeping is increasingly common in some parts of the world. Adult owners often subjectively report benefits of co-sleeping with pets, although objective actigraphy reports conversely indicate sleep disruptions due to the pet. Because limited research is available regarding pet–owner co-sleeping in non-adult samples, the aim of this two-part study was to explore whether co-sleeping improves sleep quality in adolescents, an age group in which poor sleep patterns are well documented. In Study One, an online survey with 265 pet-owning 13-to-17-year-old participants found that over 78% co-slept with their pet. Average sleep quality scores for co-sleepers and non-co-sleepers indicated generally poor sleep, with no differences in sleep quality depending on age, gender, or co-sleeping status. Study Two consisted of two preliminary case studies, using actigraphy on dog–adolescent co-sleepers. In both cases, high sleep concordance was observed, but owners again experienced generally poor sleep quality. Future actigraphy research is needed, including larger sample sizes and a control group of non-co-sleepers, to validate the preliminary findings from this study, but our limited evidence suggests that co-sleeping with a pet may not impact sleep quality in adolescents.

Human-Animal Co-Sleeping: An Actigraphy-Based Assessment of Dogs' Impacts on Women's Nighttime Movements

Simple Summary

Humans commonly share their beds with companion animals, yet little is known regarding how pets impact sleep. In survey-based studies, pet owners report that their dogs favorably affect sleep quality, but prior actigraphy-based studies of human-dog co-sleeping have concluded the practice can lead to sleep arousals and disturbances and, thus, reduce sleep efficiency (i.e., the ratio of time spent asleep in a night as compared to the time spent in bed). We examined actigraphy data from women and dogs and sleep diary data to investigate the apparent disconnect between objective and subjective reports regarding dogs’ effects on sleep. We also analyzed data minute-by-minute to assess whether dog movement impacted the likelihood the human would transition from an inactive to active state. We found associations between human and dog movement over sleep periods and that dogs influenced human movement more than humans influenced dog movement. Humans were largely unaware of their dog’s nighttime movements, and they rarely reported that their dog awakened them during the night. Additional research on more diverse samples and studies that use polysomnography and behavioral observations are necessary for developing a better understanding of how pets affect the quality of human sleep.

Abstract

Humans regularly enter into co-sleeping arrangements with human and non-human partners. Studies of adults who co-sleep report that co-sleeping can impact sleep quality, particularly for women. Although dog owners often choose to bedshare with their dogs, we know relatively little about the nature of these relationships, nor the extent to which co-sleeping might interfere with sleep quality or quantity. In an effort to rectify this, we selected a sample of 12 adult female human (M = 50.8 years) and dog dyads, and monitored their activity using actigraphy. We collected movement data in one-minute epochs for each sleep period for an average of 10 nights per participant. This resulted in 124 nights of data, covering 54,533 observations (M = 7.3 hours per night). In addition, we collected subjective sleep diary data from human participants. We found a significant positive relationship between human and dog movement over sleep periods, with dogs influencing human movement more than humans influenced dog movement. Dog movement accompanied approximately 50% of human movement observations, and dog movement tripled the likelihood of the human transitioning from a non-moving state to a moving state. Nevertheless, humans rarely reported that their dog disrupted their sleep. We encourage the continued exploration of human-animal co-sleeping in all its facets and provide recommendations for future research in this area.