Sleeping Positions

Belly sleepers, Lefties, and Righties: How Sleeping Positions can Dictate your Dreams

I did it, you guys! In the name of science, after tens of tens of heuristic trials, I present to you, ladies and gents, the conclusive scientifically-conclusive-conclusion on mastering your dreams. After hearing that body posture during sleep can affect dream experiences, I decided to put it to the test, and here is what I found.

Before reading up on any of the sleep studies, I slept in a different sleep position each night and wrote down what type of dream I had. I tried each position three times, and surprisingly, almost all three dreams in each position were of the same type. After reading studies on sleep position and dreaming, my notes and trials matched up exactly with other studies. Fluke? Perhaps, but the results were uncanny enough to suggest giving it a try, even if just for kicks.

A flip-flop sleeper by nature, with inconsistent sleep positions that typically leave me splayed diagonally across the bed, I found that the studies I will soon present to you explain how my sleeping behavior accounts for my erratic dream patterns. If you, too, are a flip-flopper, the sleep position you wake up in is the position below you should be reading about.

So what kind of sleeper are you? A lefty, righty, or belly?

Leftie

A Turkish study published in the International Journal of Sleep, Dream and Hypnosis analyzed sleep position, characteristics of dreams subjective, sleep quality, dream recall, nightmare frequency and dream emotions. Of the 63 participants, the rate at which left-sided sleeperse experienced nightmares and bizarre dreams was far higher — a large 40.9% compared to the14.6% of right-sided sleepers.

Righty

The same Turkish study reported that the right-sided sleepers had calmer dreams, ones that evoked themes of joy, peace and love. Emotions of relief and safety were also more common among right-sided sleepers. Needless to say, right-sided sleepers felt better rested, more able to focus and suffered less dysfunction throughout the day.

Belly

A Hong Kong study published by the American Psychological Association indicates that belly sleepers are more prone to dreaming of sexual, erotic, or persecutory things, such as being intimate with a celebrity, feeling smothered, or being tied-up or entangled. The study looked at dream intensity and dream motifs, as well as the personalities of 670 participants. Though the study produces these correlations, the association under investigation between personality and sleep position is weak. Speaking non-scientifically, a better explanation just may be that lying on your stomach, facedown on a pillow with your pelvic area pressed against the sleeping surface provides a physical trigger.

See if this holds true for you, and happy sleeping!