I know from experience that intentionally sleeping on my back with my arms at my sides keeps me from waking up with back pain, but if I let my body do what it wants, my default sleep position is on my side, with the same side elbow and knee bent (similar to the middle position here, except with the other arm at my side) - I must have driven my mother crazy while in the womb, as it really feels like my fetal position.
Interestingly, I’m married, and we sleep in a king size bed, and whether good or bad, my wife and I tend to stick to our own sides these days, mostly because she prefers the comforter on her & I don’t (or maybe because I keep my elbow and knee out :D). Not sure how that compares to the rest of the married/long-term couples’ population…
So, do you have a sleeping position that you find yourself gravitating towards?
Lying on my right side, right arm under my pillow, left knee drawn partway up. I’ll sometimes flip over onto my left side, but at that point, my face is pretty close to my wife, and while I love her madly, it winds up feeling a little claustrophobic.
I used to sleep on my back, but I tend to snore in that position (and was an even-worse snorer before I lost weight), so my wife used to prod me to roll over onto my side. I’ve gotten so accustomed to sleeping on my side now, that, unless I’m extremely tired, I cannot fall asleep while on my back.
On my left side with my arms stretched out in front of me. Top knee bent or not bent, I can do either.
There isn’t room for me to do this in our queen-size bed, unfortunately. My husband, who is a hot and restless sleeper, often decamps to the guest bed in the middle of the night. Then I roll into my favorite position and get some deep sleep finally.
Left side, bottom (left) arm straight out and resting on a pillow, top (right) arm hugging another pillow to my chest, legs slightly bent. I sometimes wake up on my back, too, but never fall asleep that way. Although I *can *sleep on my right side, I don’t like to. Because when I wake up on my right side, I usually end up with heinous nightmares and a headache. No clue why.
I absolutely can’t sleep on my stomach, due to boobage. Lying in that position over-arches my back, and my back and ribs will start to hurt after about 10 minutes. But even before I had boobs, I’ve never been able to sleep on my stomach. Either my face is in my pillow and I can’t breathe, or I can turn my head to the side and get a wicked neck cramp. yecch!
Like the middle picture from the OP, on my right side, left knee bent and left hand up under my chin. Right arm bent under the pillow. I also wrap my left arm around my teddy bear which has been an important part of propping me up for sleep since I was 4. I’m not exactly on my stomach because there’s too much stomach and too much boob - hence the need for the bear-wedge.
Right side, arms and legs wherever they need to be to keep me on my right side.
I have a bent nasal septum, and any other position causes major inability to breathe. Over the years, I’ve discovered that breathing is annoyingly necessary.
~VOW
Very sad subject! I used to sleep on my tummy, with my left arm outstretched and under my head, so that I was “pillowing” my head on my left biceps. Occasionally I’d flip left-and-right and sleep in the mirror position.
Now? God damn! My shoulders are too stiff! I can’t get into that position! Bloody wah!
So, on my tummy, with my arms down alongside my sides.
On my right side, curled up slightly. On my back is uncomfortable, and for some reason sleeping on my left side tend to result in my left arm falling asleep.
I sleep on my right side, on the right side of my bed even if I’m alone. I may try to sleep on my left side if I want to cuddle (how gross of me to admit) but odds are I’ll switch to my left side right before I fall asleep.
I tried to sleep on my back once after surgery when I was told to in order to minimize swelling. It was torture! And when I was pregnant I briefly tried to sleep on my left side because the anal resources say that, but then I was like fuck that shit.
Right side, right leg straight, left knee bent, arms however. This was especially my default position when I was on the boat, because it meant I was facing into my rack, away from whatever might be happening outside my curtain.
Occasionally I’ll wake up and find that I’ve been sleeping flat on my back, but I can almost never go to sleep that way.
On my right side. I’m surprised tummy sleepers can put their arms down by their sides - even a few seconds of that leaves me feeling like I’m about to choke since I’m not holding the pillow down.
