One in the bed
It’s not just royal couples who sleep in separate bedrooms – almost one in four of the over-55s opt for solo slumbering too. And experts say it can be good for your relationship
by HELEN CARROLL
Having slept separately from her husband for 14 years, Julia Champion thought it would be a romantic gesture to book a double room in a boutique hotel – with a beautiful roll top bath at the foot of the ornate bed – to celebrate her husband’s 50th birthday.
However, at dawn, demented from lack of sleep, she walked out of their hotel and checked in, alone, to a bed and breakfast next door feeling very naive for having imagined she could survive even one night beside her beloved.
‘The moment Matt’s head hit the pillow he started snoring,’ recalls Julia, 55, who runs a management and PR company for television presenters. ‘I kept shaking him, hoping he’d stop. When that failed, I took a pillow and blanket to the en suite, where I tried sleeping in the bath. Even then, with the door firmly shut, I could hear every snore.
‘At home, Matt and I not only sleep in separate bedrooms but also on different floors. It started when the eldest of our two daughters was born. I was getting up in the night to feed her and would then nod off in the spare room. We both liked having our own space so, when we upsized to a five-bedroom family house, we each picked a room, our individual sanctuaries, decorated to our very different tastes, and have slept apart ever since.