# Sleeping on the side and cheekbones **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2014, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-on-the-side-and-cheekbones/686322 "2014-04-17T05:52:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheSundial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TheSundial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSundial)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-on-the-side-and-cheekbones/686322/1 "2014-04-17T05:52:07Z")
Does this guy never sleep on his side? [http://s19.postimg.org/julc5a61v/images.jpg](http://s19.postimg.org/julc5a61v/images.jpg) I think sleeping on the back really has to do with making the face more physically attractive. There is no pressure put on your face by a pillow or the mattress so it can keep it’s proportional form. I sleep on my side and thus my cheekbones are flattened. Sleeping on the side is just more comfortable and pleasurable. It’s too bad that it most likely effects the face from being full and symmetrical. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-on-the-side-and-cheekbones/686322/2 "2014-04-17T06:09:10Z")
If you sleep on both sides equally, symmetry would not be affected. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-on-the-side-and-cheekbones/686322/3 "2014-04-17T07:45:23Z")
Sleeping on your side wouldn’t affect your cheekbones a bit, though I suppose it might, over time, have some sort of stretching effect on the overlying skin. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-on-the-side-and-cheekbones/686322/4 "2014-04-17T07:48:04Z")
I would suggest that, unless you have filmed yourself sleeping for eight hours solid, you don’t really know what percentage of time you spend sleeping on your side. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-on-the-side-and-cheekbones/686322/5 "2014-04-17T08:09:47Z")
I prefer to multitask and sleep while sitting . . . behind the wheel. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-on-the-side-and-cheekbones/686322/6 "2014-04-17T08:34:14Z")
Maybe you should get a softer pillow. ---
**Author:** ![Boogly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Boogly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boogly)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-on-the-side-and-cheekbones/686322/7 "2014-04-17T08:58:49Z")
I’ve a theory from watching puppies sleep together. If they lay on their side and another puppy lays their head on the first puppies head then symmetry is achieved. The proof is in the goofy response to puppies. Lay on your side and put something that would equal the weight placed on your upper cheekbone and you too can have movie star cheekbones. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-on-the-side-and-cheekbones/686322/8 "2014-04-17T11:51:15Z")
Sleeping on your side, with head on a pillow, ‘flattens’ your cheek bones? Wouldn’t lying on your back then ‘flatten’ the bones on the back of your skull? I think you need to do a little reading about the nature of bones! Been sleeping on my side for over fifty years, cheekbones entirely unaffected. Sorry, I’m not buying this theory. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-on-the-side-and-cheekbones/686322/9 "2014-04-17T13:40:37Z")
OP, that is a picture of a hideously ugly man. As for cheekbones, bones grow as a result of impact, so I suggest smacking yourself in the face to promote growth. You’re probably too old for it to work, but it’s work a go. > [@Dereknocue67](#): > > I prefer to multitask and sleep while sitting . . . behind the wheel. Like the old joke, “I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my granddad, not screaming like the passengers in his car”. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-on-the-side-and-cheekbones/686322/10 "2014-04-17T13:51:36Z")
Babies, who have soft skulls, can have some deformation as a result of sleep position. It’s common for babies who are put to sleep on their backs (as is recommended) to develop a flat spot on the back of their head. But it fades away as their head grows. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-on-the-side-and-cheekbones/686322/11 "2014-04-17T16:10:42Z")
The guy in the OP’s pic doesn’t sleep on his side. He sleeps standing upright, in the pod on his spaceship. That ain’t human…it’s an ET! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-on-the-side-and-cheekbones/686322/12 "2014-04-17T16:20:37Z")
> [@TheSundial](#): > > Sleeping on the side is just more comfortable and pleasurable. It’s too bad that it most likely effects the face from being full and symmetrical. It’s not more comfortable and pleasurable for many people. And it absolutely doesn’t effect the face. It doesn’t even affect it! 😛