I have a heavy preference for sleeping on my left side. For some reason, especially right after lights are out and I’m drifting off, it is the most comfortable for me – not even the left side will do. I change occasionally during the night but wind up right back at my good ol’ left side. I’d estimate I spend about 80% of the night there, 15% on my right side, and 5% on my back, with not at all on my front.
DesertWife, on the other hand would happily spend the entire night on her front. This would lead once in a while to some interesting techniques for waking her up in the morning, but I digress.
So, how about it Dopers? How do you lie when you’re in the arms of Morpheus?
Flipping around a lot. Lately, my back is not allowing me to sleep on my stomach, and I have nightmares about being totally paralyzed if I turn that way.
I sleep on my side. Used to sleep on both sides evenly but my right shoulder has been hurting so I’ve attempted to stop sleeping on that side. I put a big body pillow in my bed so I can’t roll over completely and sometimes I even wakeup on my back. (In the past, I’ve tried to switch to sleeping on my back but have been unable to fall asleep in that position.)
Variously on my left or right side, or in a sort of hybrid position, halfway between being on my side and on my stomach. I really like to have something clutched against my chest when I go to sleep–usually a pillow these days, but I’m not so proud that it can’t, on occasion, be a stuffed animal. Mostly I use the pillow because stuffed animals tend to get pretty ratty after a while; pillowcases are much easier washed.
I almost -never- sleep on my back. I can think of one time I was able to go to sleep in that position, and it took almost meditative focus. It’s just not comfortable for very long, for some reason, and I don’t know what to do with my arms–the time I went to sleep that way, I did it with my arms crossed on my chest, mummy-style. I can’t even imagine sleeping directly on my front–my neck would get craned and/or I’d suffocate in the pillow/bed.
On my side, with my face towards the wall. Can be left or right, but must be wall-wards. This applies sleeping alone as well as with company. The other person can be on either side of me, but I must be facing the wall to get to sleep. It’s weird.
Left side, right side, stomach. Sometimes back but mostly only when I fall asleep on the couch watching TV. Mostly left side though. Covers tucked between my knees, and up to my neck or sometimes covering my head.
Semi-fetal on my right side, but I often start out on my stomach and shift around until I doze off. I cannot fall asleep on my back unless I’m napping on the couch, in which case that’s the only way I can sleep.
The handful of times I’ve fallen asleep on my back in bed are due to indigestion and/or an upset stomach. For some reason that position is “gentler” on my stomach than my usual position, which is curled up on my right side.
I used to go to sleep on my stomach every night, but as I get older my arms get numb and/or tingly if I do that, and my back hurts. The only time I’ll sleep in that position is if I can’t seem to sleep at all. It’s my “easy way out” of occasional mild insomnia.
I sleep almost the whole time on my left side. If I try it on the right side, one of my hands gets numb and cold.
I get sore sleeping on my back, and sleeping on the stomach would hurt my neck.
I like it very dark and quiet.