Methodology — The Couples' Sleep Temperature Divide Survey (August 2026)

Sponsor: Sleeping Dove (sleepingdove.com). The survey was fielded under the neutral participant-facing name "Sleep habits of people who share a bed"; no products or brands were named or shown, and no purchase-intent questions were asked.

Field partner & sample: Prolific research panel. Eligibility: U.S. residents, age 25+, in a relationship (platform-verified: married, engaged, in a relationship, or civil partnership), both sexes. An in-survey screener additionally required sharing a bed with a spouse or partner 4+ nights per week; participants screened out at this question were paid a screen-out rate and excluded.

Field date: August 9, 2026 (fielded and completed the same day).

Completions: 500 approved submissions. Median completion time 3.0 minutes; participants were paid $1.00 per complete (a median effective rate of about $20/hour). During roughly the first 40 minutes of fielding, a permissions misconfiguration made the survey form temporarily inaccessible; affected participants' places were released and refilled from the same eligible pool.

Analysis set: n=484. Pre-set exclusions: 11 respondents failed an instructed-response attention check (2.2%); 4 answered "No" to the in-form bed-sharing screener; 1 approved submission had no matching form response. All excluded participants were paid in full.

Sample composition (unweighted): 295 women (61.0%), 189 men (39.0%); ages 25–81, median 41; 75.0% married, 22.1% in a relationship or engaged, 1.2% in a civil partnership. Results are reported unweighted; key measures are additionally reported by sex in the results.

Questions about hot-night behavior (Q3–Q6c below) were shown only to respondents who wake up hot at least one night in a typical week (n=409). The body-areas question was shown only to those answering "specific areas" or "it varies" (n=173). The covering-reason question was shown only to those who keep at least some covering (n=393). The device-hesitation question was shown to everyone except those "very willing" to use a powered device (n=352). Percentages use the number of respondents shown each question.

Item rule: the final question asked respondents to choose up to two options but did not technically enforce the limit; 63 respondents selected more than two and are excluded from that question's results (n=421), since selection order cannot be recovered.

Option order: answer options appeared in the fixed order shown below for all respondents (no randomization). Where order could matter, it generally ran against the headline findings: "Warmth" was listed first among reasons for keeping covers and drew 6.1%; "A powered cooling system" was listed first on the final question and ranked third.

Online panel sample (not a probability sample); results are unweighted and women are overrepresented (61%); all measures are self-reported; responses come from one partner per couple, not both — 46.1% say they run cooler than their partner versus 24.2% warmer, an asymmetry that in a sample of couples reflects self-perception; the 70.2% "prefer a different temperature" figure counts any reported difference and is unaffected by direction; single-country (U.S.); fixed option order means primacy effects cannot be fully excluded on multi-select questions.

S1 (screener). Do you currently share a bed with a spouse or partner most nights (4 or more nights per week)?
Yes / No (No → screened out, paid screen-out rate)

Q1. When it comes to how warm you like to be in bed, compared with your partner, do you generally prefer to be:
Cooler than my partner / Warmer than my partner / About the same / Not sure

Q2. In a typical week, how many nights do you wake up feeling too hot?
0 / 1–2 / 3–4 / 5–7 (0 → skips to Q6b's page… questions Q3–Q6 shown only if 1–2 or more)

Q3. When you wake up too hot, is it usually your whole body or specific areas?
Usually my whole body / Usually specific areas / It varies / Not sure

Q4. (if Q3 = specific areas or varies) Which areas most often? Select all that apply.
Feet or lower legs / Midsection (stomach, waist, or lower back) / Chest or upper back / Head, face, or neck

Q5. When you get too hot under the covers, what do you usually do? Select all that apply.
Stick a foot or leg out of the covers / Push the covers off part of my body / Throw the covers off entirely / Move away from my partner / Turn on a fan or air conditioning / Get out of bed / Nothing, I wait it out / Other

Q6. When you've pushed the covers off at night, how often do you end up pulling them back on before morning?
Never / Sometimes / Most times / Always / Doesn't apply

Q6b. Even on warm nights, do you prefer to have at least some covering over you (a sheet, blanket, or comforter)?
Yes, always / Yes, usually / Sometimes / No — I sleep without covering when warm / Not sure

Q6c. (if Q6b = always/usually/sometimes) What's the main reason you keep some covering?
Warmth / It feels comforting or secure / The light weight or pressure feels good / Habit / Privacy or coverage / Other

Q7. In a typical week, how often does cover-adjusting — by either of you — wake the other person?
Never / Less than once a week / 1–2 nights a week / 3 or more nights a week / Not sure

Q9. In the past year, have you and your partner used any of the following because of nighttime temperature differences? Select all that apply.
Separate blankets or comforters / Different-weight covers on each side / One of us sleeps partly uncovered / A fan aimed at one side of the bed / A thermostat setting neither of us prefers / Occasionally sleeping in separate beds or rooms / None of these

Attention check. For this question, please select "Somewhat dissatisfied."
Very satisfied / Somewhat satisfied / Somewhat dissatisfied / Very dissatisfied

Q10. Overall, how satisfied are you with your temperature at night?
Very satisfied / Somewhat satisfied / Somewhat dissatisfied / Very dissatisfied

Q11. Have you ever purchased bedding marketed as "cooling" (sheets, comforters, mattress pads)?
Yes — and it helped / Yes — but it didn't help much / Yes — not sure it made a difference / No

Q12. Some products manage bed temperature using powered devices — for example, water-circulating pads, forced-air units, or app-controlled systems. How willing would you be to use a powered device in or on your bed?
Very willing / Somewhat willing / Not very willing / Not at all willing / Not sure

Q13. (if Q12 = anything except "Very willing") What gives you pause about powered sleep devices? Select all that apply.
Cost / Noise / Cords or plugs near the bed / Another app or device to manage / Reliability or maintenance / I just prefer simple bedding / No particular reason / Other

Q14. If you wanted to sleep cooler at night, which of these would you most consider? Choose up to 2.
A powered cooling system (pad, air, or app-controlled) / A fan or air-conditioning change / Lighter or more breathable bedding / Bedding you can adjust for warmth / Changing the thermostat / Nothing — I'd put up with it

Demographics (age, sex, region, relationship status) come from Prolific's platform-verified participant metadata; no survey questions were spent on them.

Questions about the survey, requests for the item-level dataset (participant identifiers and free-text responses removed), or press inquiries: james@sleepingdove.com.