# How do you sleep? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 13, 2002, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578 "2002-11-13T14:50:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2002, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/21 "2002-11-13T23:06:18Z")
Remind me to re-read this thread before turning in! I fall asleep on my left side, half-curled up, usually while reading. For some reason, though, I usually spend a bit of time curled up on my right side before flopping over one last time. I’m a pretty light sleeper, and I’ve woken up sleeping on either side. I love soft, flannel sheets, and this summer I learned they’re as soft and cool in summer as they are soft and warm in winter. In addition, I’ll take either a blanket or the duvet my little brother gave me last Christmas. Oh yes, I’d rather have the room be cool and the blankets be warm. Here’s a tip – those “Spa Wraps”, cloth covered bags filled with rice and herbs that you can heat in the microwave and put on sore muscles also make wonderful bedwarmers. On particularly cold nights, I’ve woken up wrapped in a coccoon. Ages ago when I was engaged, found out how wonderful it was to fall asleep as the inside spoon, with his arms around me. Of course, he was also a foot taller than me, about twice as wide in the shoulders, and incredibly hairy, so it was rather like being wrapped up in a particularly warm blanket. The occaisional downside was, this was in Hawaii! Now, if you’ll excuse me, this thread is making me sleepy. CJ ---
**Author:** ![NardoPolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2002, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/22 "2002-11-13T23:41:10Z")
I always lie down on one side (left or right) for a little while, but I have to turn over to the _other_ side before actually falling asleep. I know, it’s weird. Regardless, when I wake up in the middle of the night, I must again rotate (or revolve? no wait - _roll_ - that’s it) 180[sup]o[/sup] to my other side. Incidentally, whichever nostril is closer to the ground when I wake up is inevitably stuffed. Rolling over causes it to drift to the other nostril. I’ve always assumed that happens to everyone, but never asked. Gotta love gravity. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2002, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/23 "2002-11-13T23:55:00Z")
I sleep face down in an upside down spread eagle. I sleep underneath the blankets and the key is, the blankets have to be really heavy or I don’t sleep well at all. I’m not the smallest of men so at least a Queen Size bed is ideal especially when I have company. When I have company, I prefer to kinda tangle myself up in them but faced down is still my general direction. I can’t really sleep spooning, I just wait until they are asleep and go back to sleeping face down. Geez it’s been a long time since I’ve had company… I generally wake up faced down but with my head at the other end of the bed. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/24 "2002-11-14T00:06:33Z")
see, i’m glad i posted this. now i know how truly weird y’all are! seriously, this is really interesting. think i’ll add something. i have often thought that i might have narcolepsy. this is because i can (and often do) fall asleep in lectures, on buses and trains (even 10 minute journeys). i wake up within 10 minutes and always before the end of the lecture or journey. seems that if i lack a certain amount of mental stimulus i just switch off. anyone else like this? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/25 "2002-11-14T00:19:42Z")
Who do you think you are, John Lennon? 😉 I usually sleep on my left side. **irish** – No, that’s not narcolepsy. If you had it, you’d fall asleep even when getting a mental stimulus. An acquaintence of mine has narcolepsy, and will sudden drop off if you tell her an especially funny joke. She has to warn people about it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/26 "2002-11-14T00:47:45Z")
On a pile of money with many beautiful ladies. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/27 "2002-11-14T02:52:58Z")
Whether I’m on the couch or in bed, my default resting position is usually on my back, with my right arm under my head and my left hand resting on my belly. Though I sleep on my side quite frequently. When I’m with my boyfriend, we usually fall asleep with him on his back with me on my side facing him. His arm closest to me is under my neck and I rest my head on his chest/shoulder (I’m amazed his arm never falls asleep. If we spoon, I prefer to be in the front–since his shoulders are broader than mine, my arm starts to feel uncomfortable from reaching over his back. Plus, I like feeling all wrapped up (this is making me miss him, but I’ll see him on Friday 🙂 ) I seem to wake up earlier, and I usually fall asleep faster. It’s a good thing, too, because he twitches when he first falls asleep, and it makes me laugh if I’m still awake. Upon preview– **irishgirl** –I have the same problem. When I’m incredibly bored in class, or on little sleep, or both, I start to drift off. I usually wake up with 5 or 10 minutes left in lecture, and am super-alert after my little “nap.” ---
**Author:** ![Trancey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Trancey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancey)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/28 "2002-11-14T05:44:25Z")
When I get into bed, I lay on my back until I’m just about to fall asleep. Then I go on my right side with one arm under my body pillow and the blankets wrapped over my head. Since I perfer that position the most, if I lay there too long, I’ll have to switch postions. So after about 5 mins of laying like that I switch over to my left side with half the pillow tucked under my neck, again with the blankets over my head. Then at that time, I’m falling fast asleep. And if I’m not, I’ll flip over to my favorite position which would be with the body pillow on my right side. I always sleep on the left side of the bed by the clock and usually always stay on that side. I have a double bed, you’d think I would be all over the thing with free range. Oh, I always sleep naked. I find you get a better sleep that way then being tangled up in pjs. I can’t sleep with other people. When my best friend sleeps over, we share my bed and have the body pillow in the middle to have our own sides. But I still can’t sleep. I always end up punching her in the face somehow or kicking the crap out of her. As for sleeping with a guy…I like laying ontop of him, with my legs bent and on either side and my head on his chest or stomach…don’t ask why I find this comfy, but it is. hehe. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/29 "2002-11-14T06:13:31Z")
How do I sleep? Alone and not very well. I have trouble falling asleep initially, then I wake up every 2-4 hours for no apparent reason. You’d think there’d be noise, or the need to use the bathroom, or a sudden temperature change, but no. Oh well. I usually fall asleep on my left side, though I might wake up on my right side. I toss and turn from side to side until I do eventually fall asleep.I never sleep on my back, and only rarely sleep on my stomach. **mayberrydan** the heavy blankets thing, as I learned while working with special needs children, is a probably a sign of minor tactile defensiveness on your part. Mine as well, since I _have_ to have a blanket year round. There’s nothing wrong with it, at least not to such a minor degree (problems start when gentle touch is hurtful to some people and so on) but it’s interesting thing about some people’s nervous systems function. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/30 "2002-11-14T08:23:10Z")
Not too bad for the most part. Thank you for asking. At this present time I sleep on a couch… a small couch actually. It’s a love seat (I’m 6’1) so I usually fall asleep on my back with my legs curls up or draped over the arm, same with my side. Usually whichever leg is on top is draped and the bottom one curled, just depends how I feel like sleeping. Sleeping in a normal bed, if I have the space, I spread out completely. So much so that even with a bigger bed (ie Queen) my feet and hands drape off the sides. Or I curl up in a fetal position. In winter I prefer my bed to be warm, in summer I like it to be cool. If I’m in bed with someone else (which happens rarely) it really depends on how we sleep. I can sleep pretty much anyway… being spooned, spooning, on my stomach draping one arm across them with their arm beneath my head, facing each other all tangled up. Last time that happened it was nice, we snuggled up the whole night while sleeping and I was so nice and warm. My toes are perpetually cold so I love a nice warm guy to put my cold toes on at night. I always seem to migrate towards the warm body if I’m sleeping in the same bed as someone, unless I get too warm of course then I migrate away but usually closer. When I had a normal bed though it was amazing how I would toss off sheets/blankets. I’d go to sleep at night with all my blankets on then toss off one or two, usually specific ones. Either the one closest to me, the middle one or the top one only. I always wondered about tossing just the middle one off. How did I do those gymnastics without waking up!? And one weird night was I went to bed with my head one way and woke up with it the other. Nothing was disturbed… the blankets were still perfect like I had when I went to sleep, the feet still tucked in a little and my pillow fine. Maybe I was kidnapped by aliens that night :eek: ! ---
**Author:** ![Jessity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jessity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jessity)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/31 "2002-11-14T11:03:16Z")
When I’m alone, (which is 99% of the time,) I start out on my left side, pillow between my arm and head. When I’m about to fall asleep, I flip over to my right side and put my pillow between my arm and head again, and sometimes wrap my left arm around a pillow. Most of the time, I wake up on my stomach, although it is nearly impossible for me to go to sleep that way. On the **rare** occasion that I get the chance to be cuddled in bed, I prefer to be spooned. My right arm still likes to stay under my head, tho’, so a nice guy will slide his arm up next to mine and hold my hand and wrap his other arm around me. I still usually wake up on my stomach, and I try to weasel my way back into cuddle mode if we’ve become separated in the night. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/32 "2002-11-14T11:04:31Z")
I remember my mum told me a trick how to get to sleep on hot, sticky summer nights in Sydney. She said that even if it’s so hot that you’re lying naked with no blankets, and the fan on, make sure you have something covering your feet. Even the thinnest of sheets. I don’t know why, but that works. Getting back to the OP, I like to sleep on my left side. I prefer sleeping alone. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/33 "2002-11-14T11:18:45Z")
Live alone, sleep alone (natch). Prefer to sleep on my left side, but something about my hip protests a bit much when I do, so I usually switch over to the right. In the winter, I’m snuggled under a second-hand duvet thingo, and a couple of blankets. In the summer, maybe just a sheet across. Rarely sleep naked 'cause of temperature shifts in the Auckland night, even in mid-summer (Feb). I tend to sleep only when I’m too tired for the busy-brain stage. When I’m sick (which is recent and current) and I have the opportunity, I do th’ “sleep-round-the-clock” thing to recharge batteries. In strange places, I find I don’t move around in my sleep at all or as much as I do at home. The position I nod off in is usually the same one I’m in when I wake up. Oh, and I talk in my sleep. Quite animatedly, so I’m told, but few can understand who I’m having a go at. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/34 "2002-11-14T11:26:18Z")
**Washte** falls asleep with her head on my chest. I’ll get her to turn over when I’m ready for bed, then spoon her for a few minutes before I roll over onto my right side/belly (almost the recovery position). I fall asleep with her butt pressed into the small of my back - She’s my hot water bottle on legs, helps my backache no end. I tend to wake up either in the same position I fell asleep in (minus **Washte’s** butt :() or on my back. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/35 "2002-11-14T16:28:52Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by elfkin477_ > > mayberrydan the heavy blankets thing, as I learned while working with special needs children, is a probably a sign of minor tactile defensiveness on your part I never really thought about it as a sign of anything but I will definately mention it my therapist, thanks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/36 "2002-11-14T17:43:02Z")
Sleep on either left side or belly, covered in blankets. I’m also a very sound sleeper. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/37 "2002-11-15T06:18:50Z")
My favorite sleep position is lying on my stomach, with my arms under my pillow. I always have to have something over me, even if it’s just a sheet. If I turn onto my side, I like to have my arms around something. Sadly, these days that usually translates to a giant stuffed bunny. I’m not a sprawler, so the size of the bed doesn’t make much difference. I think I usually wake up in the same position, but I’m not sure, since I always seem to wake up crawling toward my snooze button. ---
**Author:** ![Trancey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Trancey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancey)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/38 "2002-11-15T07:53:32Z")
Obsidian Flutterby’s post reminded me about how lately I’ve been going to sleep normally, like, head on the top of the bed, feet at the end and then waking up either head at the foot of the bed, or my head off the side with my feet off the other side. I’ve been doing that for the last couple months actually. Then I wake up confused and disorientated cuz I’m facing the wrong way and I think I’m not in my bed and somewhere completely different. hehehe. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/39 "2002-11-15T11:37:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*On a pile of money with many beautiful ladies. \*\* **DAMN YOU BRYAN EKERS !!! _DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!_** :mad: :mad: :mad: I saw that thread title, and that quote was the first thing that came to mind. Steal my thoughts again and you will suffer. ---
**Author:** ![cherry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578/40 "2002-11-15T18:13:21Z")
I don’t move around in bed and I ususally sleep fetal position on the right side with my hands under my head. The most important thing is that I need the comforter covering my head or I cant sleep. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sleep/136578.md?page=3)