I, 30f, love my boyfriend 30m to death, but his sleeping habits drive me up the wall, how can we compromise?
So, first of all, my bf snores. Loudly. He’s neither overweight, nor sick, but he vapes. I cannot for the life of me convince him to go to the doctor, even though the clinic is like 300m away. Him waking me up is one thing. (I have trouble sleeping, generally, because I’m very stressed and depressed ATM due to my health and my job) But I don’t want him to have a stroke or a heart attack 10-20 years down the line. He just shrugs me off with “it is what it is” attitude.
Secondly, and i think all other issues are connected to snoring, he needs to set up around 10-20 alarms for each morning, so between 7 and at worst 8:30 there will be a VERY loud alarm every few minutes. And he just sleeps through them all. I have to nudge and shake him, for him to wake up enough to turn it off. Then he is back asleep in seconds. It’s not that much of a problem, if I also wake up at 7. However, I work remotely most of the week, and sometimes I’d like to stay up later and wake up at 9 for work. But it’s impossible, because I’ll be getting startled by his alarm clock every few minutes from 7 AM, being flooded with cortisol and adrenaline. I understand, that he needs those alarms, otherwise he would not wake up on time at all. I just wish he did not need them.
Third, he stays up very late, on workdays too. Sometimes even until 3 AM. He says that as he’s introverted, he needs time for himself, he needs to unwind alone, and he can only do so when it’s quiet, after I’ve gone to bed. He doesn’t do anything nefarious, just watching yt or playing video games. He often falls asleep on the couch and I wake him up, if I happen to wake up in the middle of the night, and only then he goes to bed. This issue is multifaceted. I don’t like that he’s permanently sleep deprived. I’m super introverted too, but idk, he’s “my person” so he does not wear me out, I do not have to be alone without him to recharge my social battery. So, in a way, it hurts when I know he cannot chill out when I’m simply around, doing my own thing. Also, it’s kind of sad to go to bed alone, no cuddles, no pillow talk.
Now, for those saying “break up”: no. He’s otherwise great, took care of me when I was sick. He cooks things that I like all the time. He makes me breakfast. He’s great about splitting chores. We do not argue, we are super compatible, except the bed time routine I explained above. And yet, he waves me off, when I try to talk about it. Which is weird, because we’re great at compromising otherwise.
Sleep in separate rooms far away from each other or wear earplugs if your rooms are close enough you can hear his alarms. Stop taking responsibility for waking him up. Cuddle during the day or before going off to your separate rooms to sleep.