Why Sleeping in Separate Beds Can Put a Spring in Your Love Life

Sleep is the new sex. Or at least that's the case for millions of married couples who are challenging expectations of marital bliss by sleeping in separate bedrooms. It's not about sex -- there's still plenty of that going on.

It's more about the snoring, duvet snatching, teeth grinding and -- let's face it -- wind-breaking that has driven many a spouse to take refuge in the spare room.

"Sleep is the most selfish thing you can do. You can't share your sleep with somebody else," says Dr. Neil Stanley a sleep expert at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital who believes that sleeping apart from your spouse promotes a happier -- and much healthier -- marriage.

"We know that people who have poor sleep have higher rates of divorce. They're more miserable. They're more depressed."

A recent survey by the U.S. National Sleep Foundation found that one-in-four married Americans is now sleeping alone.

And a new study of American builders and architects predicted that by 2015, more than 60 percent of high-end custom-built houses would have two separate master bedrooms.

"There's a definite demand for his-and-hers bedrooms," says Gopal Ahluwalia of the National Association of Home Builders, which conducted the survey. "It started with closets and bathrooms and now the trend is for bedrooms."

Even many celebrities see the benefits of sleeping solo.

The actress Helena Bonham Carter and her partner, film director Tim Burton, sleep in their own -- albeit attached -- houses.

Even Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, who reportedly slept in separate rooms while they were dating, have kept the same arrangement since their 2006 marriage.

"Now that they are married, they don't feel the need to alter the arrangement," says a Hollywood source. "Tom has his master bedroom and Katie has hers.

"In fact, they even joke about having separate bedrooms to their friends. Katie says Tom snores and this way she can get her beauty sleep."

A partner who snores is one of the main reasons why many couples choose to sleep separately, says Stanley. But a huge cultural taboo surrounding the sanctity of the marital bed prevents them from openly discussing their new sleeping arrangements.

"A lot of people, mainly middle-aged women, relocate in the middle of the night by going to the back bedroom but they don't admit to it," he says.

"There should be no stigma about separate bedrooms, but there is that cultural stigma that people apply to it."