London, Aug 4 (IANS) All it takes is a gentle snore to turn a woman into a beastly bedfellow.
Watching her husband nod off the moment his head hits the pillow unleashes deeply hurt feelings in a woman. One in four wives admitted waking their husbands up because of sleep envy.
The most common revenge is to simply toss and turn until their bleary-eyed husband is awake. The next best thing is an 'accidental' poke or prod in the ribs, reports the Daily Mail.
Some admitted using less subtle tactics such as chatting until they got a response, making a loud noise and even turning on the light or television.
One in 10 actually confessed to pinching the poor fellow.
These dastardly night-time confessions came to light in a poll of 4,000 women who were questioned about their sleeping habits.
The research found a quarter of women took up to an hour to drop off. Conversely, most men said they were fast asleep in under 10 minutes.
A third of women said the frustration they felt at watching their husbands blissfully asleep while they toss and turn led to arguments.
As well as the sleep divide between the sexes, there are geographical differences too.
Grumpy pensioners were the most likely to give their husbands a prod to wake them while younger girlfriends resorted to turning on the TV or light.
A spokesman for Silentnight, which carried out the poll, said: "Not being able to get to sleep can be frustrating enough, but our survey shows that it's made worse when you're next to someone who is sound asleep."
"However, this sleep envy phenomenon is actually doing more harm than good and will only prevent you from getting to sleep longer."
Sleep is a sensitive subject in most households - especially those with newborn babies. A recent study found that new parents will have missed out on half a year's worth of sleep by the time their child is two.
Most get fewer than four hours a night as they get up countless times to feed or soothe the little one.
As a result, they build up an ever increasing 'sleep debt' which means they are permanently tired and prone to mood swings, depression, irritability and arguments.