Is sleeping with your cat or dog bad for you? Here’s what study says

Nearly half of American pet owners share a bed with their dog or cat, and a 2024 study of more than 1,500 adults found those people reported measurably worse sleep quality and more severe insomnia than people who slept alone.

That finding, published in Scientific Reports, held up even after researchers controlled for age and income.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association's 2025 ownership data, Americans own roughly 87 million dogs and 76 million cats, and a large share of them aren't sleeping on the floor.

According to the study by the journal 'Scientific Reports', 47.6% of pet owners share the bed with their pet, compared with the statistic provided in other independent studies, done by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, which estimates that the number is 46%.

In a previous study conducted by Mayo Clinic Center for Sleep Medicine, it was revealed that almost 41% of patients felt comfortable with the presence of their pet at night and that only about 20% felt disturbed.

As seen in the recent study, around 60% of the respondents believe that their pet actually helps them sleep better despite the fact that it may be disturbing clinically measured sleep quality.

The most surprising outcome from the study done in 2024 was that the adverse sleep impact was caused solely by dog owners. The sleep of cat owners remained unaffected.

It is believed that because of the larger weight of dogs, the increased movements, and the synchronisation with the owners' sleeping rhythm, any change on the dog's part causes disruption of the owner's sleep cycle. Cats, on the other hand, weigh less and do not care about the human biological clock, although another study carried out in 2023 found that cat owners suffer more from jerky legs while sleeping.

On the one hand, studies mentioned by the National Institutes of Health show that petting leads to lowered blood pressure, decreased cortisol levels, and the production of oxytocin in the same manner as hugging, all those factors being especially important for lonely individuals or patients with chronic anxiety.

On the other hand, it is worth mentioning that cat scratch fever due to fleas, as mentioned by the CDC, and fragmented sleep caused by pet dander are common problems reported by the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in 30 per cent of allergy sufferers.