When your 'mzee' snores like a broken blender

Last week, my husband allowed me to go for a sleep over at a dear friend’s place. Yep, as a good wife it’s only proper to seek permission for such rendezvous...

I arrived at Steph’s house on that Friday evening by around eight. Steph and I frequently have such nights out to catch up and bond as former campus friends. So the sumptuous dinner was served at 8.15pm, the two children were tucked in bed by 9pm. We bonded downstairs until late in the night then I was shown the guest room upstairs in the vast house.

In the middle of the night I woke up for a bathroom break and on my way back, I accidentally entered a wrong room. Guess who was in that room? Saitain! Steph’s mzee! I ducked out like a mad woman and ran to the sitting room down stairs. That is where I slept. So in the morning, I asked Steph what the hell is going on with her marriage that they are sleeping in separate rooms. “Are they fighting?”

“Not really, Jack is a horrible snorer. He snores like a broken blender. For years, I struggled with it, but a marriage counselor advised us to try sleeping in separate rooms, and we have never been happier,” she shared. From my research, I have noticed that like Steph, more couples are embracing this unconventional sleeping arrangement.

As life, especially in the corporate world, becomes more demanding, a growing number of happily married couples are embracing this concept called night divorce. The trend is so common in developed nations like US, to accommodate it, more houses are being built with two master bedrooms.

Research carried out by The Sleep Council indicates that many of us aren’t happy in our shared beds. So why are more couples who have erstwhile marriages sleeping in separate beds? Bedtime quirks that can destroy even a watertight marriage.

Earthshaking snoring: Like Steph’s case, the solution to sleeping with a lethal snorer is sleeping in separate rooms otherwise the affected party will be grumpy the rest of their lives.

Duvet or bed-hogging: There is nothing as annoying as sharing a bed with somebody who steals the whole blanket in the middle of a cold July night. Or that one who sleeps like they are fighting with demons. Nocturnal reading habits: I am as guilty as charge. While my hubby is asleep, I am always reading stuff online way past midnight and it’s always a nagging distraction.

Research from Ryerson University in Canada has proven that sleeping in separate rooms can invigorate a couple’s sex life because it breaks the monotony of having sex in one room and brings in the mystery and spontaneity of doing it anywhere.

So next time you bust your couple friends sleeping in separate rooms, do not assume they are having marital trouble. Their reasons are solid and the solution very practical.

The writer is a married working mother of a toddler boy and a preschooler daughter. She shares her day-today-life experience of juggling between career, family and social life