Snoring Alert in Europe's Beds: Every Second Person is Annoyed

Do people in a relationship sleep in the same bed? And even more importantly: with separate duvets or a shared one? What are the reasons for sleeping together, and what annoys people about it? In a representative survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of the online retailer Galaxus, 2663 people from Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, and France provided insights on this topic.

Hardly any risk of duvet stealing in the DACH region. In a relationship, people share the bed with their partner. In Europe, that's a given. But opinions differ when it comes to sharing the duvet: Four out of five couples in Italy and France sleep under a shared duvet. Hardly anyone uses multiple duvets per bed.

In Austria and Germany, a different preference prevails: Three out of five couples prefer individual duvets. Switzerland demonstrates the most diversity in the duvet discussion: Half of Swiss couples use separate duvets, while one-third share one.

Snoring irritates everyone, everywhere. Among bed-sharing couples in Europe, a major common annoyance is snoring. Every second person in Europe is disturbed by their partner's snoring. It's by far the biggest factor causing frustration in bedrooms. Women are significantly more bothered by snoring partners. In Germany, France, and Switzerland, two out of three women have to deal with it. Among men, it's roughly four out of ten. This could be because research shows women have lighter sleep and men tend to snore more and louder for physiological reasons.

The older you get, the more likely your partner's snoring seems to bother you. In all the surveyed countries, those over 60 top the rankings in this regard. Shared duvets increase the chance of duvet stealing: In France, every fourth person is annoyed if their partner pulls the duvet towards themselves. In Italy, it's every fifth, whereas in Germany and Austria, only one in ten struggles with it. In Switzerland and Germany, besides snoring, a restless sleep by the partner also increases heart rates.

Reasons for togetherness in bed include the closeness or cuddling which are particularly appreciated by French, Austrians, and Germans. Especially young couples between 15 and 29 years old love these close moments: Four out of five enjoy this closeness. In pragmatic Switzerland, the spooning position is slightly overtaken: by the notion that a shared bed simply belongs to a relationship. In Italy, intimacy ranks number one.

When divided by gender, a consistent pattern emerges in Europe: Men more frequently appreciate intimacy compared to women and feel that a shared bed is part of a relationship tradition. Women more often appreciate the sense of security experienced in shared beds. Everyone likes to cuddle.

The dream of having one's own bed persists. The facts are established. Time for a thought experiment: Who, if they could, would prefer to sleep alone? In Germany and France, more than one-third of people would – at least occasionally. In German relationships, the desire for permanently separate beds is also the highest (12%). In contrast, in Switzerland, only every fiftieth person wishes to always sleep alone.

In Switzerland and Germany, women dream significantly more than men of nights alone: In Germany, it affects four out of ten women versus just one in seven men. In Switzerland, it's every third woman compared to every fifth man. Austrian men are different: every seventh finds permanent bed separation ideal – the highest in Europe.

Currently, in the realm of relationships in Europe, there is no avoiding the shared bed – despite snoring or duvet stealing.

Originally, this article was published on the Digitec Galaxus AG website on 10.04.2026.

Press Contact:
Tobias Heller
Communications Manager
Tobias.Heller@digitecgalaxus.ch

Editor's note: Image rights belong to the respective publisher.