Specialists say there are benefits to couples sleeping separately

By Leanne Italie | The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Solender and his wife have been together for 42 years. They slept in the same bed for the first 10, taking to separate rooms after that. Their sleep separation was due to his developing chronic and heavy snoring that eventually led to a diagnosis of sleep apnea and his use of a CPAP machine. After the machine eliminated his snoring, they continue to sleep apart in their Charlotte, North Carolina, home because of other issues. He’s typically warm at night and she’s usually cold. “For us to maintain separate rooms for sleep just makes for a healthier relationship and a better relationship,” said Solender, 66. “There’s no shame attached to that. There’s no stigma.” Snoring, temperature variations, cover stealers, and tossing and turning often lead to partners sleeping separately. Other issues are also in play, including illness, different work shifts, and partners who go to bed and get up at different times. More than one-third of Americans said they occasionally or consistently sleep in another room to accommodate a bed partner, according to an American Academy of Sleep Medicine study last year. Men are the ones who usually...