Christy Hoffman, Program Director of Anthrozoology at Cansius College, just carried out a study that found that women sleep better when they share their bed with a dog rather than with a cat or another human.

Hoffman found that this is because dogs disturb sleep less and bring humans a feeling of comfort and security. The study said that these feelings are brought about because of “dogs’ abilities to deter intruders and warn their owners of potential threats.”

After surveying 900 women living in the United States, the study found that 55 percent shared their bed with at least one dog, 31 percent with at least one cat, and 57 percent of participants also shared their bed with a human partner. Hoffman then used this data to find a correlation between pet ownership and human sleep.

She found that dog owners have earlier bedtimes and wake times than those who only had cats, who she found were just as disruptive to sleep as another human is.

Hoffman also concluded that a dog owner adopts a stricter sleep schedule in order to help meet their pet’s needs. She found that this sleep schedule often helped the owner to sleep better than their non-dog owning counterparts.

Hoffman said that follow up research is needed to determine if “pet owners’ perceptions of pets’ impacts on their sleep align with objective measures of sleep quality.”

It looks like we have yet another reason why it’s great to own dogs! If you are having trouble getting a good night’s sleep, consider getting yourself a dog!