No wonder your poodle was a little grumpy this morning.
After a long day at work dealing with meetings, reports and co-workers stealing your tuna sandwich from the fridge, most of us struggle to fall asleep. Turns out we aren’t alone.
A new study has shown that man’s best friend is also more likely to have a disturbed night’s sleep after a day of stress.
Hungarian researchers monitored the sleep patterns of dogs after ‘positive’ experiences such as getting loads of cuddles, and ‘negative experiences’ like being separated from their owner or taken to the vet.
The furry friends who’d been exposed to the ‘negative’ experiences spent more time in REM sleep (the active sleep stage) and woke up more quickly.
We know what you’re thinking – what does my dog have to be stressed about? He spent most of yesterday chasing his own shadow and licking his butt.
Well, dogs can get stressed for all sorts of reasons like unfamiliar environments, unknown people or animals, and whole bunch of other things.
So, make sure to give your doggo lots of hugs before he goes for a snooze tonight.
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Words by Kate Stevens
