A recent shock headline said that sleeping in the same bed as your partner ‘can increase the risk of depression, heart disease and stroke’. Snoring, fighting for the duvet and being pushed out of bed by a ‘starfisher’ are all common complaints by anyone who’s ever shared a bed with a partner.

A 2015 National Sleep Foundation survey found that as many as 25% of couples reported sleeping in separate beds, and 10% of them said they even slept in separate bedrooms, but it’s not always a relationship problem.

In fact, for some people in long-term relationships, occasionally having a bed to yourself is a secret guilty pleasure, but according to new research, you may not have to feel so guilty after all. A study by the University of Leeds has discovered that 29 per cent of people blame their partners for why they can’t get a good night’s sleep.

Few couples have the same bedtime routines or sleeping habits, and it’s no secret that lack of sleep results in bad moods and lack of focus, but it also results in an array of health problems including obesity, heart disease and diabetes. With digital devices already wreaking havoc on our attempts to sleep, this research may make couples rethink their bedroom arrangements.

However it’s not worth breaking up over. A recent study by LM Research found that those of us in happy relationships sleep better than singletons or those in unhappy relationships, as they feel secure and less anxious.

On the other hand lots of recent research underlines the damage done to health by disturbed sleep, particularly from heavy snoring or sleep apnoea. Sleep apnoea is a condition where breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. The condition can result in frequent periods of decreased oxygen levels in the body, known as intermittent hypoxia.

For example, a single bout of sleep apnoea impacts the human body’s ability to regulate blood pressure.

In a recent study measuring the impact of simulated sleep, researchers found that just six hours of the fluctuating oxygen levels associated with sleep apnoea can begin to deteriorate a person’s circulatory system. Research has found that patients with hard-to-control blood pressure may benefit from treating obstructive sleep apnoea.

A new study from the University of Chicago and University of Barcelona revealed that people who are suffering from intermittent hypoxia or an irregular lack of air caused by sleep apnea are more likely to develop advanced and deadly lung cancer.

The study, published in the journal Chest, showed that intermittent hypoxia promotes the release of circulating exosomes, increasing tumor growth.

It is now believed that obstructive sleep apnoea may also impact on patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Sleep disorders are quite common among kidney disease patients, but their impact on the kidney disease progression has previously been unknown. The new information underlines the need for clinical intervention to improve sleep habits in individuals with CKD.

Snoring is generally regarded as the first sign of obstructive sleep apnea.

Although common among many adults, snoring is considered unhealthy in the long run as it leads to deprived oxygenation state during sleep and is found to be the major factor in increasing cardiac atherosclerosis, stroke and even natural death. Besides these, obstructive sleep apnoea is regarded as a big threat to the overall health to a person as it results in a number of other conditions like insomnia, lethargy, daytime sleepiness, weakened immunity, hypertension, anxiety, depression, nerve damage, decreased motor and memory function, and many more.

Snoring is generally found to increase with age and is reportedly more common among men, although the number of women who snore has increased a great deal. Globally around 30-50% of populations, depending upon the demographic region, are known to have snoring problems.

Often ignored, and therefore untreated, it can be serious for your long term health. A choice of stop snoring appliances that are medically approved are available online without prescription. SleepPro appliances are approved and supplied by health authorities such as the NHS in Britain, who rate it as the top solution to prevent and resolve the problem.