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Many people are light sleepers, and these types of situations are not unusual at all. O. hit it right on the head when she brought up the influence of movies and television in creating an unrealistically normative portrayal of couples post-coitally melding into each other for a night of uninterrupted slumber.
Unfortunately I cant recall the source, but I read an article recently on couples not sleeping together- and the usual reason was that the man was an incredibly loud snorer. The article did mention all sorts of other reasons as well- substantially different schedules, sleepwalking, irreconciliable preferences regarding the mattress, pillows, room temperature, etc.
Maybe he could try easing into it- first, sleeping in the same room, to get used to the noise. Then, he could try sleeping in bed with a full body pillow set up in between. Or you could try sleeping together on the weekends and sleeping apart during the week.
As far as the suspicions of intimacy issues go, I encourage any women to share their views if they disagree, but if the man involved is in all other respects a sensitive, concerned, caring and supportive partner, then his girlfriend should be able to trust him enough to take him at his word that this is an issue of being a light sleeper, not one of fear of intimacy.
