I sleep fetus style. I would like to change to the soldier style (laying on my back). My girlfriend actually sleeps like this. I don’t know the benefit of sleeping like this. It just seems more natural to me. Is it possible for one to change their sleeping style willingly not because of health reasons?
You’re going to get all kinds of anecdotal evidence about this, such as, my mother was a stomach sleeper until she was pregnant with me and it became impossible to continue… even after having me, she never went back to stomach-sleeping.
A few years ago there was some fad research about sleeping position being indicative of personality type. Do you think you could change your personality?
I’m sure that it’s possible to change your sleep style, as I’ve done it a handful of times in my life. I’ve done months/years in most of the positions noted in the link.
Naturally, I’m skeptical of the claim that your sleeping position has much to say about your basic personality, since I’ve never been accused of having Multiple Personality Disorder, and I’ve read conflicting interpretations of what your sleep position is supposed to reveal about you.
I also have to say that I don’t really understand why you would actively seek to change your sleeping style, as I’ve always simply slept in the position that felt the most “natural” to me at the time, as I imagine everbody does. I suspect that you’ll sleep better in the position in which you’re the most comfortable.
And by sleeping on your side, you’ll have a better view of the girlfriend. 
I’ve never heard the term “soldier style” used to refer to sleeping on one’s back. Is it a common term? Do soldiers actually sleep this way?
I don’t know if they sleep that way, but it is, more or less, the way they stand (at attention).
Consider your sleeping preference carefully. In my experience, sleeping on your back leads to more vivid dreams and snoring. YMMV.
I don’t have a good reason. I just thinking sleeping on your back would give a more restful look in the morning. I understand sleeping on your face gives you puffy eyes. Conversely in my shaky logic, sleeping with your back in which you would be working with gravity would garner more favorable results. No?
Here’s a link with the different sleeping “styles”.
I find it easier to sleep on my back if I have a pillow under my legs…that might help with changing the style. You might try other things to help with insomnia - like an eye mask, a heavy blanket, a cup of warm milk/chamomile tea/etc before bed - to help with the adjustment.
I never knew some people sleep in the same position all night, every night…I don’t even like to sleep on the same side of the bed every night…
My own sleeping position wasn’t listed. I can best describe it as the recovery position.
I thought people moved about a lot during the night?
Isn’t the most comfortable position for you, that gets you off to sleep, the best?
Please don’t start sleeping on your back. You’ll snore and your girlfriend will eventually smother you in your sleep.
I use every one of those positions every night (except freefall-I can’t sleep on my stomach).
I don’t see how personalities could be linked to sleep positions.
Why don’t you sleep in the position that is most comfortable for you?
The position you actually sleep in and the position you fall asleep in can be very different. I can’t fall asleep unless I’m on my stomach or slightly to the side, but I’ve been woken up several times in the middle of the night for whatever reason and was surprised to find myself flat on my back.
Make a video of yourself through a whole night’s sleep to see what positions you actually sleep in.
I go to sleep on my side, but during the night my hips roll forward causing a twist in my back and eventually pain my my upper back. I’d love to be able to sleep on my back, but I can not fall asleep on my back.
Yes, I’m in the same position (ha ha) as Turek - while I’m most comfortable falling asleep in a modified “free fall” (I also bend one of my knees up and out to the side), by the time I wake up I’m often sorry I did so. It hurts my back and sometimes makes my arm fall asleep.
Good luck, I tried for a couple of years to convince my body to sleep on its back before I got tired of fighting it. I want to sleep on my back because I’m getting a wrinkle through one eyebrow and I have the dreaded decollette chest crease. I just cannot manage to fall asleep lying on my back.
I have noticed that when I fall asleep on the couch, I wake up on my back. I think I try to turn over in my sleep and the back of the counch prevents me from completing the manuver. I thinking about building a a wall of pillows in the bed and seeing if I can duplicate the effect.
Yeah, regardless of how you fall asleep, you are likely to change position in your sleep. I tend to fall asleep on my back and then migrate to a side position when I sleep. I definitely notice a correlation between temperature and position. I will go into fetal position if I am anything less than an ideal warmth (and it tends to get colder by morning) so closing your window or wearing adequate blanketing might help. Sometimes putting a pillow under my legs, butt, or top of my spine helps. I don’t like having a pillow under my head because it forces my neck towards my chest. Although I often end up in fetal position, I find it makes my muscles stiff in annoying places. I think ideally I would like to sleep in alternate back/stomach positions.
I usually sleep in the recovery position, or in a wierd position that I used to do in hospital when I had an IV in my left wrist.
I can NOT sleep on my back. In hospital I ran the head of the bed up about half way, then laid on my stomach, with my left arm across my chest mummy style, and the right arm holding my torso up so the full weight wasnt on my left wrist. Now I sort of do the same pose using 2 very fluffy pillows.
mrAru says that I go from recovery position left or right through stomach sleeping, and never really turn face up.
I sleep either on my right side with a pile of pillows lined up in front of me like a body pillow. I pull the top knee up 90* to rest on the pillows and have my right arm up and under my head. This is one of two positions that allow me to fall asleep, but has the downside of waking up with stiff, painful shoulders and a completely numb arm.
The other position I have is on my belly, turned slightly to the side, with one knee pulled up towards my chest and the opposite arm under the pillow and my head. This is very comfortable to fall asleep, but means I wake up with a painful lower back and pelvis and occasional nerve pain in my sciatic nerve, since I’m spending eight hours all twisted up.
I can’t fall asleep in any other position and don’t change positions throughout the night except back and forth between these two. I do wish I could, I feel like I’m doing a lot of gradual damage to my back and hips, but I just can’t get comfy or relax in any other position.