Till bed do us apart!

We were lying in the bedroom, in the early minutes of sleep, and suddenly he jerked his hand, only to punch me hard on my eye with his elbow,"
recounts Jhanvi, a 36-year-old interior designer from Delhi. "I was already so sleep-deprived from his restlessness and snoring that I just told him, 'It's all over, honey'." Oops!!

Jhanvi's husband of 9 years, who asked not to be identified, was soon moved into another bedroom. Does this scenario sound familiar? Well, Jhanvi and her beau are just one of the many loving couples who, because of snoring, restless legs, opposite schedules or other nocturnal difficulties, decide to sleep apart. It may be hard to believe, but the fact is that wedding dichotomy is changing, and several studies done by the National Sleep Foundation reveal that between 12% and 25% of married couples are sleeping separately. These studies also show that the trend is on the rise, moving to 13% between 2001 and 2008. We explore....

A growing trend:

"There many couples sleeping separately these days," says Dr. Sharmishtha Verma, psychiatrist. She further shares, "One of my friends constantly complained that her hubby shudders himself awake at night. Her problem was severe as he did this some 20 times an hour. She finally declared that she just couldn't sleep with her husband and this resulted in a major marital ruckus. They finally came to me and we worked out an accommodating separate sleep schedule." Our lives are fairly fast paced and demanding and to function well professionally, getting a good night's rest is very important. What is interesting is that nowadays builders are accommodating this lifestyle change in the home scenario. "There is a huge demand of homes that boast of a second master bedroom. Note that a guest room was never required to be as lavish as a bedroom. So, this suite is mainly required to accommodate couples who can not share a bed overnight," shares a Noida-based builder on condition of anonymity. Even scientifically speaking, a recent study conducted by Sleep and Biological Rhythms states that women sleep less soundly when they share a bed with a romantic partner. Surprisingly, men actually sleep better when they sleep next to a woman.

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US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan

BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.

Cuba's world-famous cigar festival closes in Havana

Sunday, February 28, 2010 HAVANA: Hundreds of wealthy merchants and cigar aficionados from all parts of the world gathered in Havana this week to bid high stakes for humidors full of premium cigars. Cuba's annual Habanos festival ended on Friday night with an auction of ornate humidors of cedar and mahogany stacked with hand-rolled stogies that raised 800,000 euros ($1.09 million dollars). Habanos S.A. executives this month said cigar sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers. Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos. But even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars. The flavor of premium tobacco relies on the soil and climate in which it is grown. The western province of Pinar Del Rio, famous fo...

Berlin Celebrates the Day the Wall Fell

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 BERLIN: World leaders and partying Germans are descending on Berlin Nov. 9 to mark the 20th anniversary of the day the Berlin Wall was breachedIt is a day for celebrations and commemorations, for festivities and sober reflection. Berlin is marking 20 years since the fall of the Wall on Monday with a series of events, big and small. Leaders from around the world are descending on the German capital to help celebrate the momentous events of Nov. 9, 1989, a date that has come to symbolize the end of communism in Eastern Europe. The main focus of events will be the historic Brandenburg Gate, where 20 years ago, joyful East and West Berliners gathered together to dance on top of the wall and celebrate the sudden opening up of the Iron Curtain. The iconic gateway had once stood in the midst of no man's land, surrounded by barbed wire and machine guns. Now 20 years on, a concert and fireworks display will recall those heady moments. A line of 1,000 foam dominoe...

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