Sleep Incompatibility: It Increases With Age

If you're young and madly in love, it's a little easier to put up with things," says Helene A. Emsellem, MD. Emsellem is director of the Center for Sleep & Wake Disorders in Washington, D.C.

According to Paul Rosenblatt, PhD, a professor of family social studies at the University of Minnesota, sleep incompatibility naturally increases with age. "With older couples, sex is often in the past, snoring is a problem, plus they're going to the bathroom multiple times a night," he says. Lots of older couples end up not wanting to share a bed."

Other experts agree. "We get more complicated as we get older," Emsellem tells WebMD. "For example, there's the development of hot flashes in women, and snoring."