# How weird is it that I can't fall asleep on my back?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 10, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982 "2009-11-10T01:32:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/1 "2009-11-10T01:32:46Z")
I can do it only if I’m really tired, but other than that, I always fall asleep on my side.
Did anyone here have to learn to fall asleep on their back? If so how did you do it?
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### Author:  [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/2 "2009-11-10T01:52:33Z")
Not at all weird. I slept on my side when I was a kid, until a horrible sunburn on my back caused me to sleep on my stomach. I got used to stomach sleeping and stayed that way. Plus my arms are more out of the way.
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### Author:  [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/3 "2009-11-10T01:54:51Z")
I cannot sleep on my back. I alternate between side and stomach all night.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/4 "2009-11-10T04:10:09Z")
Fixed title(_sleep_ to _asleep_).
Side.
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### Author:  [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/5 "2009-11-10T04:32:11Z")
Some people have [orthopnea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthopnea)which basically prevents them from sleeping flat on their back, and they need pillows or some other way of sleeping.
So it’s not THAT weird, though it can be signs of something else if you try to sleep on your wake and wake up due to coughing fits, or you have shortness of breath. Always good to let your Doctor know if that’s an issue.
And I’m a Back sleeper with maybe 20-30% on the side.
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/6 "2009-11-10T04:34:05Z")
I never used to be able to fall asleep on my back. It just didn’t feel right. Now I don’t usually but I definitely can and do it more often. Not as often as tummy sleeping. Maybe 25% of the time? Has anyone else found that they changed?
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/7 "2009-11-10T05:05:09Z")
I can fall asleep on my back…for a short while then I wake up and have to turn over. I flop between my stomach and side all night, too.
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/8 "2009-11-10T05:10:00Z")
Also, I can’t really sleep on my side. Is that weird? I always flop over.
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### Author:  [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/9 "2009-11-10T05:16:51Z")
I remember as a kid being terrified I’d have to go to the hospital. I wouldn’t be able to sleep! People in hospitals always sleep on their backs!
As an adult, I fall asleep on my back almost every night. But, and it’s a cute but, it’s because I fall asleep listening to the radio. I try to keep myself awake a bit in order to listen, but of course it has the opposite effect. Which is the point 🙂
At some point I roll onto my side and I spend the rest of the night sleeping on my side, except when I get up to pee…I lay down on my back again. The cycle continues.
Another position I really love for starting out is halfway between on my back and on my side.
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### Author:  [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/10 "2009-11-10T05:28:18Z")
I’d love to be able to sleep on my back. I might not wake up several times a night with hip and knee pain if I could.
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### Author:  [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/11 "2009-11-10T06:24:21Z")
I typically can’t. Only if I’m really badly stuffed up does it work, because that way my nose can drain into my throat and stay pretty clear. It’s disgusting, but I do get to sleep.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/12 "2009-11-10T06:50:31Z")
I voted “stomach” but I turn like a rotisserie hotdog.
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### Author:  [@ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/13 "2009-11-10T07:00:29Z")
I flip from side-to-side all night. I can’t sleep for more than 30 mins on my back, which was pure misery during a 36 day hospital stay last year when I was physically unable to lay on my side.
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### Author:  [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/14 "2009-11-10T07:37:21Z")
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> I voted “stomach” but I turn like a rotisserie hotdog.
Me too! I spend the majority of the time in a weird hybrid side/stomach position with my left leg stretched out and my right leg bent such that I look like a letter h. I flip around as various body parts fall asleep and go numb. It’s a wonder my arms haven’t fallen off from lack of circulation over the years. I always flip in the same direction though, counter-clockwise.
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### Author:  [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/15 "2009-11-10T13:40:29Z")
I can only really sleep on my left side.
I can fall asleep, very briefly, in another position, but only if I’m really tired, and I always wake up long enough to turn over to my left side before long.
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### Author:  [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/16 "2009-11-10T13:56:11Z")
Whoa, I thought I was the only one! This is why I love this message board.
The worst of it is, I know it’s entirely a mental thing. I’ll be lying on my back, if only because it happens to feel most comfortable at the time, and my brain will tell me, “You should just go ahead and roll over to your side. You know you’re not going to be able to get to sleep like this. Just take a little roll. C’mon. Do it. Just do it.”
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### Author:  [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/17 "2009-11-10T14:01:28Z")
me too! left side only!! back hurts or just can’t sleep any other way.
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### Author:  [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/18 "2009-11-10T14:26:20Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#):
>
> I never used to be able to fall asleep on my back. It just didn’t feel right. Now I don’t usually but I definitely can and do it more often. Not as often as tummy sleeping. Maybe 25% of the time? Has anyone else found that they changed?
I slept on my back and only my back until I went to college, then I turned into a stomach-sleeper. It’s bizarre, I can’t sleep on my back to save my life now. _shrug_
I can’t believe there are so many side-sleepers. I curl up on my side to get warm but I can’t sleep that way.
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### Author:  [@purple\_cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purple_cow)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/19 "2009-11-10T16:03:34Z")
It’s certainly not mental for me. The worst 8 weeks of my life were after knee surgery. I had to sleep on my back so as not to put the knee in a bad position. I don’t think i slept more than a couple of hours a night, in short bursts, the whole time. No matter how tired I was, and i was sooooo tired, it just didn’t work.
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-weird-is-it-that-i-cant-fall-asleep-on-my-back/516982/20 "2009-11-10T16:06:00Z")
> [@Chopper9760](#):
>
> I slept on my back and only my back until I went to college, then I turned into a stomach-sleeper. It’s bizarre, I can’t sleep on my back to save my life now. _shrug_
>
> I can’t believe there are so many side-sleepers. I curl up on my side to get warm but I can’t sleep that way.
Yes, I agree. Maybe it’s because I don’t have enough…er, girth for it. When I do go on my side, like with my arms/legs kind of propping me up, it feels hella uncomfortable. I agree that I do the whole fetal snuggled up to get warm thing but it’s not conducive to sleep at all!
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