Pillow talk is not just for couples anymore. What used to have been believed to be the conversation held after romantic encounters has shifted from sharing sheets to sharing secrets.
Having conversations late at night has been a phenomenon for years. Think back to the younger days when sleepovers had been all the rage. How many times did falling asleep to the sound of best friends’ gossiping transpire? Having a roommate can some- times seem like a never-ending, month-long sleepover.
Johnson and Wales University fashion merchandising and retail marketing major Colleen Oswald confesses to have these in-depth, late night conversations with her roommate. “I feel like it’s made our relationship stronger,” Oswald said. “It’s good to be able to understand each other.”
Many of the conversations roommates have seem to be more reflection-like. Oswald and her roommate talk mainly about boys, relationships and anything else going on in their lives.
In a blog post, Dr. Stan Tatkin, MFT, PsyD, answers questions about the importance of pillow talk in general. Tatkin argues that while trying to sleep, mind chatter becomes more predominant. Any background noise becomes amplified making it difficult to fall asleep. Pillow talk neutralizes the mind chatter because it can be calming on the mind and it works the verbal centers in the brain.
Albright College criminology major Chelsea MacCain unfortunately does not share pillow talk with her roommate. “We aren’t really that close,” MacCain said. “We have very few in-depth conversations.” Although these types of in-depth pillow talk conversations between MacCain and her roommate are scarce, they do have occasional personal conversations.
When the two roommates share personal experiences with one another, they talk about what happened in the day, anything major that happened and anything that happened to go wrong. “The talking didn’t really affect us becoming closer,” MacCain said.
In many cases pillow talk brings people closer together. According to Tatkin, morning and night are significant times in the day. Morning brings separation while night brings reunion. By setting time aside to come together at night to reconnect, you can strengthen the relationship as a whole.
One student who has benefited greatly from pillow talk with a roommate is Ursinus College chemistry and Spanish major Clara Greskoff. Greskoff shares a room with her roommate of two years, Shannon, while having six other suitemates. “We talk about anything and everything,” Greskoff said. “A lot of late nights studying has turned into talks on things such as religion and how hard it is to keep a relationship with God while living the hectic life of a college student.”
Greskoff and her roommate also talk about boys, finding and losing relationships and how it is both difficult and painful to find love at this age.
Greskoff had met her roommate on Facebook before starting their first semester at college. She credits the late night conversations as the stepping stone to their entire friendship. “These talks are what have gotten me through crazy, emotional finals weeks, the nights where things just felt a little too heavy and all the times boys have broken my heart.”
“Don’t get me wrong, we also talk about dumb things or reminisce on all the stupid things we’ve done, but once it gets late, the conversations definitely become more serious,” Greskoff said. “We talk about our futures, discussing how we’re terrified but excited to apply to medical and dental school.”
Pillow talk helps to build strong relationships with both partners and friends. It is a good way to catch up on each other’s days and can actually help sleep.
“I wouldn’t trade these late night conversations with Shannon for the world,” Greskoff said. “Thanks to these talks, two years later, I can’t imagine my life without her.”
Pingback: Pillow talk reaches college campuses | Track Any Thing You Want Throgh Your Mobile App