Contrary to their expectations, their research showed that keeping a pup in their bedroom at night did not disturb people’s quality of sleep.

The researchers spent five months evaluating the sleep of 40 healthy adults and their dogs. The participant and their pups wore accelerators for 7 nights to track their movement during the night, and the human participants answered questions about their quality of sleep and if their dogs slept in bed with them or somewhere else in the bedroom.

The study showed that keeping dogs in the bedroom does not affect the quality of sleep in healthy adults. It did show a slight decrease in sleep quality when the dog was sleeping on the bed, but before you start to worry: even with the pup in bed, the quality of sleep was still considered satisfactory. And, there are certain perks that come with letting your furbaby sleep next to you.

After studying sixty individuals, the researchers noted that the act of touching a dog was shown to lower a persons blood pressure. So, snuggling up next to your pup could actually help improve your stress levels and make you more relaxed before bed

The study stated that women were more likely to be woken up by their partner or another type of pet than to be woken up by their dog. The study also noted that sleeping next to their pup promoted strong feelings of security and comfort in the participants.

So, the next time your pup begs to sleep in bed with you, you can feel confident in your decision to give the bed an encouraging pat and watch your baby jump up in joy. There’s nothing sweeter than falling asleep next to a soft and warm little angel, and now you know it may even make you more feel more rested, comforted and relaxed.