# Have you ever watched someone as they slept?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 15, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412 "2015-09-15T21:20:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/1 "2015-09-15T21:20:51Z")
You know…kind of like laying next to a loved one or sitting in a chair near the bed and–while wide awake yourself–just watched them as they slept?
I’ve talked to a few about this and opinions seem to differ vastly. Some think it’s a fairly loving and sweet thing to do while others think it’s slightly (or very) creepy.
What say you?
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### Author:  [@polar\_bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/polar_bear)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/2 "2015-09-15T22:06:46Z")
Your choices are not complete. Yes, I have watched a fair amount of people sleep… but in pretty much all circumstances because of the situation at hand. I also don’t think it is particularly creepy.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/3 "2015-09-15T22:10:52Z")
My kids. When they were new babies it was wonderful to hold them, or sneak into their room, or when they fell asleep in bed with us, and just watch them sleep.
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### Author:  [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/4 "2015-09-15T22:11:04Z")
I think whether it’s sweet or creepy depends in large part on the relationship between the watcher and the sleeper. A parent watching an infant child sleep is sweet; a relative stranger watching a one-night-stand sleep is creepy as hell.
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### Author:  [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/5 "2015-09-15T22:26:24Z")
I’ve watched my elderly mother sleep. I have to stop it because all I can do is think “Is the still breathing?” Her breathing is so shallow.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/6 "2015-09-15T22:41:44Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#):
>
> My kids. When they were new babies it was wonderful to hold them, or sneak into their room, or when they fell asleep in bed with us, and just watch them sleep.
Me too. Doing the same to an adult seems creepy.
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### Author:  [@Oops\_I\_Went\_Poopies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oops_I_Went_Poopies)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/7 "2015-09-15T22:41:48Z")
I usually have a camera running overnight. I replay it next morning to watch myself sleep.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/8 "2015-09-15T22:45:43Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> Me too. Doing the same to an adult seems creepy.
Ok, I’ll stop. 😃
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/9 "2015-09-15T22:56:17Z")
Does sitting the deathwatch count?
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### Author:  [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/10 "2015-09-15T23:44:59Z")
Just my dog when I was a kid. He ran in his sleep.
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### Author:  [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/11 "2015-09-16T01:34:29Z")
My wife gets up first and falls asleep first to I sometimes just lay back and watch her. For some reason it does calm me somewhat after a long or brutal day of adulthood.
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### Author:  [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/12 "2015-09-16T01:38:27Z")
I used to watch my fiance sleeping to see if he was breathing (severe sleep apnea - if he wasn’t snoring, he wasn’t breathing). Now I frequently catch myself watching him sleep, marveling at how peaceful and relaxed he is (and how quiet he is). I also watch our dogs sleeping because they’re so cute when they twitch and chirp and chase cats in their dreams.
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### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/13 "2015-09-16T02:41:46Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#):
>
> My kids. When they were new babies it was wonderful to hold them, or sneak into their room, or when they fell asleep in bed with us, and just watch them sleep.
Me too although I was always too tired to watch her for long.
I have also watched people sleep when they were sick, and I was sitting up with them. I used to be a terrible insomniac so I have watched boyfriends sleep as well, though not for more than a half-hour or so.
I think it’s the “all night long” part that makes it creepy. If you are supposed to be in the room, and it’s for a reasonable length of time, then yes, it can be a sweet and loving thing.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/14 "2015-09-16T02:46:39Z")
Depends on the circumstance as well. For example, if you’re sneaking into someone’s room at night (ala Twilight), just to watch them sleep, that’s fucking mega-creepy. On the other hand, if you have a loved one in the hospital and you’re waiting by their bedside for them to wake up from an injury, surgery, etc – I think THAT’s practically required.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/15 "2015-09-16T02:48:41Z")
I agree the poll choices are not complete. I don’t think it’s creepy, but I do think it’s boring as all get out. Right up there with watching grass grow.
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### Author:  [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/16 "2015-09-16T07:21:51Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> I agree the poll choices are not complete. I don’t think it’s creepy, but I do think it’s boring as all get out. Right up there with watching grass grow.
I agree. Unless they start talking in their sleep, then it could get interesting.
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### Author:  [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/17 "2015-09-16T11:17:59Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> I agree the poll choices are not complete. I don’t think it’s creepy, but I do think it’s boring as all get out. Right up there with watching grass grow.
> [@scootergirl](#):
>
> I agree. Unless they start talking in their sleep, then it could get interesting.
Do you two mean kids as well? It would be utterly alien to me if someone foind watching their own child sleep to be inherently “boring.”
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/18 "2015-09-16T11:39:11Z")
There’s no better feeling than laying next to the person you love and they don’t know you love them or that you’re in their house again.
–Author unknown
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### Author:  [@Gothic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gothic)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/19 "2015-09-16T13:57:02Z")
> [@Enginerd](#):
>
> I think whether it’s sweet or creepy depends in large part on the relationship between the watcher and the sleeper. A parent watching an infant child sleep is sweet; a relative stranger watching a one-night-stand sleep is creepy as hell.
Then how do you know when it’s time to leave?
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### Author:  [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2015, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-watched-someone-as-they-slept/731412/20 "2015-09-16T16:02:08Z")
my boys, my new grandbaby, my mother in her final days
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