A snoring partner can be worse than a nightmare.Image: Shutterstock
Snoring, stealing blankets or a completely different sleep rhythm: two worlds often collide in the bedroom. What couples are most upset about at night – and why they still stick to sharing bed.
April 10, 2026, 1:06 p.mApril 10, 2026, 1:06 p.m
Snoring is not a marginal phenomenon, but a mass problem: In Switzerland and its neighboring countries, almost every second person snores – and just as many feel bothered by it. This shows a current one Evaluation of Galaxus based on a representative survey.
Snoring is by far the biggest factor that causes red heads in the bedroom. Bedmates are second most annoyed by their partner’s restless sleep. Conflicts are also caused by a partner’s different sleep rhythm and stealing the blanket. Between a fifth and a quarter of those surveyed are not bothered by their partner’s sleeping habits at all at night.
Women are much more likely to be bothered by snoring bedtime noises. In Germany, France and Switzerland, two out of three women struggle with this. For men it is around four out of ten. That could be because according to the research Women sleep more easily and men snore more often and more intensively for physiological reasons.
However, not all lovers sleep in the same bed. In Switzerland and its neighboring countries, almost a fifth rely on separate beds, separate rooms or even separate apartments. Opinions are much more divided when it comes to dealing with the duvet: four out of five couples in Italy and France lie down under the same blanket. Hardly anyone has several per bed.
A different wind is blowing in Austria and Germany: three out of five couples there prefer individual blankets. Switzerland is the most diverse when it comes to the blanket discussion: half of the lovers in this country slip under separate blankets, and almost a third share them.
What is particularly valued when sharing beds is the closeness to your partner and cuddling together. Intimacy, a feeling of security and physical warmth are also valued. For more than half of those surveyed, sharing beds is simply part of a relationship.
Although the vast majority voluntarily sleep in a shared bed, many would at least sometimes wish they could sleep alone. In Germany and France it is more than one in three people, in Switzerland one or one in four respondents.
The numbers show a clear contradiction: On the one hand, many people are bothered by their partner’s sleeping habits, but on the other hand, for the majority, sharing a bed is a natural part of the relationship. There remains an area of tension between the need for closeness and the quality of sleep that many couples negotiate night after night.