# Sleeping alone-- in the middle or on one side of the bed? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 16, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324 "2016-04-16T02:33:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/1 "2016-04-16T02:33:31Z")
If you usually sleep in a double bed or larger _without another human being_, do you sleep on one side or in the middle? I have a queen-sized bed and I sleep on one side (the right side, if you’re lying down looking up at the ceiling) so as to leave room for one cat who spreads out on the left side near the foot. I have two other cats who sometimes pile in. Gets crowded. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/2 "2016-04-16T02:47:36Z")
When I sleep alone, which is rare nowadays, I’m prone to sleeping diagonally across it. I’m tall. Not quote so tall that I have to sleep this way, but enough that novelty of having _extra bed_ at my head and feet is fun. I also like splaying my arms and legs out wide… what a luxury! Other that that, I like when the sheets are cold, so I tend to move around a lot. When one side gets warm, I move to the cold side and then back again. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/3 "2016-04-16T03:11:11Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > When I sleep alone, which is rare nowadays, I’m prone to sleeping diagonally across it. I’m tall. Not quote so tall that I have to sleep this way, but enough that novelty of having _extra bed_ at my head and feet is fun. I also like splaying my arms and legs out wide… what a luxury! > > Other that that, I like when the sheets are cold, so I tend to move around a lot. When one side gets warm, I move to the cold side and then back again. Try a waterbed without the pad and just a sheet, and the heater turned off. One of my favorite things…keeps me cool on those hot summer nights and (with the heater on and the pad back in place) warm in the winter. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/4 "2016-04-16T03:13:31Z")
I usually sleep to one side on a queen or full bed. As for a water bed with the heater off, won’t that be too cold? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/5 "2016-04-16T03:18:08Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I usually sleep to one side on a queen or full bed. > > As for a water bed with the heater off, won’t that be too cold? Not on a hot night. I wake up feeling pleasantly cool and, best of all, not sweaty or grungy. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/6 "2016-04-16T03:25:41Z")
I have a queen and I sleep in the middle. I splay out like **dracoi** and I don’t like my hands or feet hanging off the edge of the bed because then the monsters will eat them. So that’s why I don’t take a side. But sometimes I’ll wake myself up by hitting my hand or elbow or knee or foot against the wall. Which is preferable than sleeping off on the side opposite the wall and getting my limbs devoured. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/7 "2016-04-16T03:26:30Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > When I sleep alone, which is rare nowadays, I’m prone to sleeping diagonally across it. I’m tall. Not quote so tall that I have to sleep this way, but enough that novelty of having _extra bed_ at my head and feet is fun. I also like splaying my arms and legs out wide… what a luxury! > > … You’re just a wild thang! Sleeping diagonally…I might have to give that a try. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/8 "2016-04-16T03:27:33Z")
I forgot to answer the original question… No matter how I start out, I always seem to end up on my right side, so I tend toward the right. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/9 "2016-04-16T03:27:41Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Try a waterbed without the pad and just a sheet, and the heater turned off. One of my favorite things…keeps me cool on those hot summer nights and (with the heater on and the pad back in place) warm in the winter. Tempting… I know my parents had a waterbed and it never felt warm. I was too young to know if it was heated at all, though. I have seen ads for adjustable firmness mattresses that also heat and cool differently. When my wife and I buy a new mattress, we may very well go that direction. She already sleeps with two extra blankets and a heating pad. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/10 "2016-04-16T03:30:19Z")
I sleep on one side of my queen bed because each pillow takes up one side, so I feel I have to pick a side. This thread will inspire me to go crazy and sleep in the dead center tonight, though. I’ll just put the extra pillow away somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/11 "2016-04-16T03:34:15Z")
I never sleep \*alone \*alone (there’s always a baby or two who have crawled in), but when my husband is on call he usually sleeps on the sofa so the pager/phone calls don’t wake us up. And sometimes he falls asleep putting the 4 y.o to bed. Anyway, under those circumstances, I usually sleep diagonal or even upside down (my head at the footboard). I can’t explain it, but I often sleep better in comfy hotel beds than at home, and we have a weird memory foam mattress, so sleeping the wrong way can be a welcome change. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/12 "2016-04-16T03:39:18Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Tempting… I know my parents had a waterbed and it never felt warm. I was too young to know if it was heated at all, though. > > I have seen ads for adjustable firmness mattresses that also heat and cool differently. When my wife and I buy a new mattress, we may very well go that direction. She already sleeps with two extra blankets and a heating pad. My heater settings go up to 100 degrees, so I don’t think it’d be much of a problem. Normally they come with an insulated quilted pad that can cover the whole bed too…at least, mine did. California king size is the best…plenty of maneuvering room for those of us tall pipples…but takes up a LOT of space. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/13 "2016-04-16T03:42:43Z")
Even alone (which has been rare in the total of my life) I tend to one side or the other. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/14 "2016-04-16T03:44:08Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > I sleep on one side of my queen bed because each pillow takes up one side, so I feel I have to pick a side. This thread will inspire me to go crazy and sleep in the dead center tonight, though. I’ll just put the extra pillow away somewhere. Get one of those body-length pillows and it will stretch across the whole top of the bed. No more boundary line down the middle. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/15 "2016-04-16T03:54:26Z")
I have a queen bed and sleep on one side. I alternate sides so as not to wear the mattress out unevenly. I do it because I find that more comfortable, and definitely not to accommodate pets, which don’t belong on human beds. (I dated a girl for a while who let her English bulldog sleep on her bed with her, which irked me. The dog, being a bulldog, wasn’t sprightly enough to jump up there herself, so she had to be lifted up, but if you tried to go to bed without her, she would just pace and snort until someone lifted her onto the bed. I pointed out that you had to train 'em young, to which the girl replied “could you kick a 6 week old puppy off the bed?” And I was like, uh, yeah, of course I could.) ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/16 "2016-04-16T04:09:12Z")
> [@Elemenopy](#): > > I can’t explain it, but I often sleep better in comfy hotel beds than at home, and we have a weird memory foam mattress, so sleeping the wrong way can be a welcome change. Interesting. Maybe it’s the memory foam. For me, one of life’s pleasures is not just traveling and sightseeing, but also coming home to sleep in my own bed. > [@Arcite](#): > > I have a queen bed and sleep on one side. I alternate sides so as not to wear the mattress out unevenly. To even out the wear, I’ve marked my mattress with a Sharpie. When viewing the mattress from the foot of the bed, I marked the upper left corner with the number 1. After a few months I flip and turn the matress, and mark that upper left corner with 2. And so on, with 3 and 4. Every 3-6 months, I go from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 in the upper left corner. My wife is lighter than I. In retrospect I should have marked 1 and 2 on the same side, and 3 and 4 on the other side. Then I don’t have to flip it over as often, and it all works out the same. ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Jake\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/17 "2016-04-16T04:13:38Z")
Side, always. The side nearest the door is my preference, but I will defer as a bed guest. Alone, I need a minimum of two pillows. I can’t sleep on my back or stomach and I require a second pillow as an arm buffer. One arm under and one over. I sometimes use a third pillow over my head, but not always. Three pillows on a bed is weird, so I have four, but never use more than three at a time. I know what you’re thinking. How can someone with such a well planned sleeping technique be single? It’s weird, I know. I can’t figure it out either. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/18 "2016-04-16T06:00:08Z")
I’m such a terrible restless sleeper (if you can even call that sleeping), I’m all over the bed. Sleeping with your arms and legs all spread out is called _starfish position_ – A term I invented myself, 50-some years ago when I was a teenager – but I see now that it’s a commonly-used expression. GMTA. Apparently the phrase is also used for a position for doing things in bed other than sleeping as well, that OP has explicitly placed outside the scope of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/19 "2016-04-16T06:02:56Z")
My SO and I have very different work schedules, and therefore, very different sleep schedules. So my tendency is to sleep on MY side of the bed (right-hand side when lying on my back) if she is there, or if she isn’t. Also, I tend to sweat a lot, and she wouldn’t appreciate me sweating up her side of the bed until it looks like the Shroud of Turin. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324/20 "2016-04-16T11:39:49Z")
Back when I was still single, I had a double bed, and I slept on one side, depending on how the furniture was arranged. I’d want to be nearest the way out. I did the same when I’d travel for work. These days, in a king bed, if my husband isn’t there, I’ll still stick to my side, which happens to be farthest from the door. And when he and I sleep elsewhere (like when traveling) I’m always to the right when we lie on our backs. Regarding pets - they’ve been banned from the bedroom ever since one particular cat took to peeing on me in bed when he was displeased. So we don’t share our king with either cat or the dog. It’s wonderful!! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-alone-in-the-middle-or-on-one-side-of-the-bed/752324.md?page=2)