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Sleeping With Pets Can Help You Get More Rest, Science

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Dec 16, 2015 12:00 PM EST

Now sleep with a pet. Not to give it a bed, but to give yourself better sleep and rest.

This has been determined by The Center for Sleep Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

It recently examined 150 patients, half of whom were pet owners. About 56 percent permitted their pets to sleep in their bedrooms, of which 41 percent admitted that they were not disturbed, and the pets helped them sleep better, according to scienceworldreport.

"Many pet owners view companion animals as family members that they wish to incorporate into as many aspects of their life as possible.Because humans spend considerable time sleeping, a pet owner's desire to have animals close at night is understandable," the study authors wrote. "Some participants in this study identified advantages to having a companion animal in the bedroom or even on the bed. Some respondents described feeling secure, content, and relaxed when their pet slept nearby. This appears to be especially true for single sleepers. The value of these experiences, although poorly understood, cannot be dismissed because sleep is dependent on a state of physical and mental relaxation."

Even those who slept alone said they felt better with a pet by their side.

However, earlier research had said that pets should not be in the bedrooms, so that their owners can sleep better. In 2013, a study by the same organization believed that 10 percent of pet owners who slept with them had disturbed sleep. It was up from 1 percent since the 2001 study. But it also suggested that those with more problems had multiple pets.

Some pets are more relaxing. Cats tend to roam around at night, while dogs settle into the sleep patterns of their owners.

Read the full text here.

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