Two in a Bed: The Social System of Couple Bed Sharing

As anyone who has ever spent the night next to another person knows, one can learn a great deal about someone over the course of a night. Rosenblatt's book is a sociological study of this overlooked phenomenon, and he reveals all the factors involved in bed sharing, ""couple interaction,"" and the effects of a shared sleeping environment. Based on interviews with 42 heterosexual and homosexual couples, and four single individuals, Rosenblatt explores the entire nighttime procedure, pleasant and not; reading and watching television in bed, tossing, turning, cuddling and sleeping. He also spends a chapter discussing the morning routine, taking into account the differences between couples with children and without. While the study lacks any groundbreaking revelations, it highlights smaller details that may be overlooked when considering the impact of bed sharing. In one particularly revealing example, a woman explains how she and her husband divorced, in part because he refused to break his habit of leaving the television on in the bedroom when the couple went to sleep. While one does not emerge from Rosenblatt's study with an entirely new perspective on the nighttime habits of couples, the book reassuringly asserts the age-old maxims it never hurts to hear: the keys to a good relationship are intimacy, communication and plenty of compromise.