Should You Sleep In A Bed With A Sick Spouse?

Should You Sleep In Bed With A Sick Spouse?

Sleep In A Bed With A Sick Spouse?

Everyone who shares a bed will face the issue of whether or not to sleep with their partner on nights when one of them has a cold or the flu.

If one partner is sick, will the other come down with it because they share a bed? Can you get a good night’s sleep when the person next to you is coughing, sneezing, or otherwise sick? If you are sick will you be more comfortable sleeping alone? The couples I interviewed for my book, Two in a Bed, offered reasons for sleeping together and also reasons to sleep apart when one of the partners has the flu or a cold. I’m not a physician and don’t have medical advice to offer you, but I can tell you what the people I interviewed said.

I’ve Been Exposed Anyhow
Some people said sleeping apart would not prevent one partner from catching the other’s cold or flu. The sick partner was contagious before the symptoms appeared, and so the partner who appears to be well is already coming down with the bug. The virus was transmitted through kissing, touching each other, touching surfaces the partners had touched, or breathing in air the partner had breathed out.

We Promised to Be Together in Sickness as Well as Health
Some people felt that they had made a commitment to each other to be together in sickness as well as health, and that meant sharing a bed when one of them had a bug. For them, staying in the same bed was an act of loyalty, caring, love, and commitment. It was a way to say, “I’m with you; you can count on me.” And as part of that they were ready to do things to help their partner, even if it was to bring the partner a box of tissues or put a cool hand on the partner’s hot forehead. And by staying in bed with their sick partner they were ready to act immediately if what seemed to be just an ordinary cold or case of the flu became something worse. Then they could call 9-1-1 or get their partner medicine to lower a spiking fever.

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