Australian researchers have investigated the brain activity of mostly male snorers and their spouses for the first time to find out just how much their sleep is disturbed.
They discovered that these bed partners woke up 25 per cent more during the night than the average person.
"That means she's having 25 per cent extra sleep disturbance because she's sleeping with him… making her less refreshed in the morning, more tired during the day and, over time, chronically sleep deprived." said Sean Tolhurst, a University of Queensland academic and Snore Australia sleep expert.
Dr Tolhurst said his research, to be presented tomorrow at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian Sleep Association in Perth, is the first to scientifically back up age-old complaints from weary spouses.
His team recruited 22 problem snorers and their partners in Brisbane to monitor the brain wave and respiratory activity of both overnight in a queen-size bed set up in the lab.
In particular they looked at the seven men with severe obstructive sleep apnoea, where the airway becomes completely blocked during sleep, forcing them to "jerk, gasp in breathe and make a raucous snore".
The partners of these men were roused awake or semi-awake about 17 times an hour throughout the night - significantly more than the average.
The only consolation was that their snoring partners were much worse off, disrupting themselves between 30 and 80 times an hour.
He said while the women might not remember waking up so often, the regular disturbances take a toll, lowering energy, work performance and wellbeing over time.
"This really is the proof to justify why it is that these wives have been feeling tired and exhausted day after day," the researcher said.