Thoughtful sleep

November 3, 2005 6:45 AM

Do you think differently depending on which side you're lying on? For instance, do you have more practical thoughts while lying on your left side, and more fanciful/creative thoughts while lying on your right side? Or vice versa?

I experience this while in bed, going to sleep at night. Just curious if anyone else has the same experience.

posted by LadyBonita to grab bag (20 comments total)

No.
posted by majick at 6:51 AM on November 3, 2005

no
posted by andrew cooke at 7:06 AM on November 3, 2005

I may be the only person on the planet, but I consider lying on my right side 'thinking time' and lying on my left side 'sleeping time'.
It's so ingrained that I find it difficult to go to sleep lying on my right and difficult to stay awake lying on my left.

It might stem from reading years ago in some book on ayurveda that one should always sleep on their left side.

Or I'm just a few cards shy of a deck.
Either is good.
posted by willmize at 7:06 AM on November 3, 2005

I can safely say I have never, ever noticed such a thing. But it's kind of funny, and maybe I'll take to lying on my right side. Or hanging myself from the ceiling. Or lashing myself with a whip in the early morning hours.
posted by xmutex at 7:06 AM on November 3, 2005

I've never noticed this pattern, and I tend to notice lots of patterns. It doesn't seem likely, either. I'll watch for it in the future.
posted by jdroth at 7:07 AM on November 3, 2005

Yes! I've noticed the same thing about myself when falling asleep. It's often more of a distinction between creative, tending toward sinister/otherwordly thoughts on one side, and more mundane thoughts while lying on the other side. Also, I usually make the distinction between curve-y thoughts on one side and linear thoughts on the other. I'm not sure which is which though. I'll have to pay more attention.
posted by Uncle Glendinning at 7:12 AM on November 3, 2005

I've certainly noticed a similar effect with dreams - if I wake up on one side and fall asleep again on the same side the dream will often continue, whereas if I flip over it will not.
posted by aquafiend at 7:14 AM on November 3, 2005

No.

Also, I sleep on my back. I suppose if someone favored sleeping on one side exclusively, they'd think more 'sleepy' thoughts on the side they slept on..
posted by delmoi at 7:24 AM on November 3, 2005

No difference between sides, but if I sleep on my back I always remember my dreams (presumably because I don't sleep as well).
posted by Hildago at 7:26 AM on November 3, 2005

This is very strange, but I truly believed that the angle that I was sleeping at would choose the type of dreams I had until I was about 12 or 13.
Imagine a clock perpendicular to the the axis of rotation of my body, so sleeping on my back is 12 and sleeping on my stomach is 6.
I had awful dreams (nightmares) at the 11 position and the 1 position (30 degrees to either side of "on my back") and excellent dreams from 3-6, for example.
posted by nekton at 7:50 AM on November 3, 2005

Yes. I'm not sure what this is about, but I always assumed that it was because I had a somewhat deviated septum that was causing more or less air to get into my brain on either side. This also may have to do with the fact that since I share a bed, one side is usually a cuddling/sleep side and one side is a too hot/too cold/too angry/too tired side. Usually I have the most vivid dreams on my back, even though I almost never fall asleep that way. So for me the right side is arms extended, involved, companionable, and left side is curled up, closed off, in my own head.
posted by jessamyn at 7:55 AM on November 3, 2005

FWIW, there's reference to the effects of different positions when falling asleep in this book: The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep.
posted by muckster at 7:59 AM on November 3, 2005

My mom told me when I was kid that if I was having trouble falling asleep because I was thinking about stuff too much (like reviewing the day in my head), I should just roll over to the other side. Which would effectively break the train of thought in my mind, allow me to settle down, and therefore fall asleep.

My point is that maybe it's not that you're having different thoughts on one side or the other - just that the process of rolling to the other side gives your mind time to stop and start thinking of something different. If that makes sense.

Other than that, I don't notice a difference.
posted by bibbit at 8:40 AM on November 3, 2005

When I lay down on my left side I get sleeeepy.
posted by Sara Anne at 8:48 AM on November 3, 2005

I tend to have very trippy/creepy dreams when sleeping on my left side, and almost no dreams (or none that wake me in a flop sweat) when sleeping on my right. Funny, I thought it was just me.
posted by Gilbert at 9:14 AM on November 3, 2005

Yes. I have noticed it for a long time. On my right side thoughts are more rational, on the left more bizzare and dream-like. It only seems to work during that twilight between wake and sleep, when your still conscious enough to notice, but already partly asleep.

I'd always assumed it was a left-right brain thing and blood flow and gravity pressing on hemispheres. I'd like to know why exactly, and if its possible to "train" the brain to be more active in certain regions through sleeping positions.
posted by stbalbach at 9:19 AM on November 3, 2005

Yes, though I can't remember which side does which for me right now. Laying on one I tend to have what I'd describe as more creative thoughts (ie, just plain out-there) and laying on the other I tend to think about practical things like what bills need paid, where my keys are, etc.
posted by sapienza at 9:22 AM on November 3, 2005

Interesting question. I think there's a lot to the basic "changing positions breaks your train of thought" idea, as well as the possibility that some things work because we think they do.

But I've long believed that when I'm lying on my left side, I'm more thoughtful and a little tense. Sometimes I like all those thoughts flying around... I might eventually fall asleep, but tend to have weird dreams or at least fall fast but awake with a startle for no apparent reason.

On my right, I might have basically trained myself that it's shutdown time. Might take longer to get to sleep, but it's more... calm and peaceful.

So if I'm trying to solve a problem or come up with a creative idea, I'm on my left. When I'm sick to death of my brain, I roll onto my right.

I might be imagining it all, of course.
posted by pzarquon at 1:13 PM on November 3, 2005

I experience it.
My theory is that we think with our body as much as with our brain, or at least that different positions send diffferent signals to the brain. When we are falling asleep, the mind is freewheeling and a different physical input can lead thoughts in a different direction.
posted by bru at 2:20 PM on November 3, 2005

Jessamyn's right. Everyone's nasal septum is deviated to some extent (running the spectrum from very obvious to hardly detectable), and as a result most people sleep more comfortably on the side that will maximise the oxygen getting to their brain.

(From here on it's guesswork) Although the difference in oxygen likely isn't enough to affect how your brain operates, I wouldn't be at all surprised if this tendency has psychological implications for some people.
posted by teem at 8:37 PM on November 3, 2005