Sleeping on the Right vs. The Left Side: What's the Difference?

You may be thinking…Huh? Does it make any difference? Would you be surprised if I said yes?

Well, to answer the question, yes, it does make a difference which side you sleep on. All positions have their pros and cons, which we will discuss in more detail later. But which one is best?

Which side you sleep on is an interesting concept. Your first thought is likely, whatever is the most comfortable, but which side you sleep on has an impact on your health as well as your personality and even your dreams.

What Determines Our Sleep Position?

Your Age

Have you ever watched a child sleep? If you watch them for any length of time, you know that they move around, A LOT! Studies have shown that they move around in their sleep twice as often as adults. As they get older, they fall into a more natural sleeping rhythm and choose what position to sleep in.

As children become young adults and up through their mid-twenties, they start to shift to a side sleeping position. Scientists are not sure why this happens, but offer a guess that it is because as you age you tend to move less, which allows you to be comfortable in a certain position longer before feeling the need to move.

Though, research does show that older adults of 65 and over naturally shift to a right-side sleeping position. Experts believe that this occurs because the brain is behind the scenes making moves that will inevitably protect the heart. That brain, it is smart.

A Pregnancy

Doctors recommend that pregnant women sleep on the left side because it enables the heart to pump blood more efficiently to the placenta. If there is too much pressure on the vena cava artery it can slow blood flow from the lower body to the heart and brain. This means that your organs cannot get enough oxygenated blood delivered to them, which is also true for baby. If you are not getting enough oxygen, neither is he or she.

Many midwives adopt a slightly different approach to sleeping while pregnant. First, it is impossible to stay comfortable in one spot all night long and if you did, it could lead to sores on your pressure points such as hips, shoulders, and knees. Second, if you lay only on your left side all the time, the baby will not become familiar with the entire pelvic area, which could lead to unbearable back labor. Switch sides throughout the night to give the baby all the room he or she may need.

What Does Our Sleep Position Say About Our Personality?

Sleeping on Your Back

If you are a back sleeper, studies have shown that you tend to be more on the stubborn side. The benefit to being stubborn though, is that you exude self-confidence and are usually sure of yourself.

What this means is that you are more easily able to power through difficult tasks while at the same time feeling that you are doing an excellent job.

The stubborn side of this personality type is what gives you the ability to keep going until you reach your goals. Of course, this is not always the best quality to have in relationships with others. They may see you as brash or unfeeling.

Sleeping on Your Stomach

People who are stomach sleepers tend to be defensive and sensitive to criticism. Feeling overwhelmed and of having no sense of control over our lives are common traits of this type of personality. When you mix all these feelings, chances are, you will find a perfectionist hiding inside that person.

These are all factors that contribute to depression, anxiety, and agoraphobia. Someone who cannot take criticism well and quickly becomes defensive about it internalizes the fear, discomfort, and negative thoughts.

All is not bad though. Highly Sensitive People (HSP) are loyal and hardworking, they are independent and can work with little supervision. They are fantastic listeners and pay a great deal of detail to projects they are working on. HSP are wonderful critical thinkers and are fair in their observations of others.

Sleeping on Your Left

Left-side sleepers often belong to a creative personality type. Creative personalities are the perfect mix of yin and yang. They have a lot of mental and physical energy, but know instinctively how to control this energy, so they also get lots of rest and are more relaxed. Everything about their personality is a nice mixture of one trait while, at the same time, stabilized by the opposite trait.

Creative personalities tend to be highly intelligent and put this intelligence to effective use in a focused yet relaxed way. They can concentrate solely on one thing for prolonged periods without ever losing the enthusiasm they had when they started the project.

Bullies tend to choose creatives as their victims more so than other personality types because they are, different, or even weird. They often dress differently and in our typical male society, creative boys are more sensitive than they are “supposed” to be, and creative girls often show qualities that are usually male-oriented. Thus, throwing off the balance of perceived gender roles.

Sleeping on Your Right

You might have a neurotic type of personality if you are a right-side sleeper. Studies have shown that folks who sleep on their right side tend to be afraid a lot of the time. They tend to be afraid of germs, bugs, heights, etc. Most neurotic personalities have several fears at the same time.

There seems to be a link between neurotic behaviors and overthinking, as well as being sensitive to their environment. This personality type is more apt to be addicted to caffeine and/or nicotine, though studies have not determined a reason.

Having a neurotic personality is not all jokes and laughs at our expense, but those with a neurotic personality are great at caring for others. They have wonderful senses of humor, though usually dry and self-deprecating. Those who are on the neurotic side are very driven, yet they are not risk-takers.

How Do Sleep Positions Affect Our Dreams?

When Sleeping on Your Back

Research has shown that people who sleep on their backs have more nightmares than people who sleep in one of the other positions. There is also evidence that back sleepers do not usually remember their dreams, and if they do, they are not as clear as those who sleep on one or the other of their sides or their stomach.

Typically, back sleepers dream of being in a vulnerable situation, such as feeling lost or failing a big test. Another big theme in these dreams are feelings of exposure, like showing up to work naked or crying in public.

There is both positive and negative about these nightmares and dreams. One negative is that with the nightmares you make wake up more often in the night causing disruptions to your sleep cycle which makes you feel less refreshed in the morning. However, a positive is that you are less likely to remember them, so while you may wake up frightened or disturbed you will not remember them in the morning.

When Sleeping on Your Stomach

Tummy sleepers have the most vivid dreams of all the sleeping positions. Not only are these dreams vivid, but they are very intense and easy to remember. Fortunately, some of these are the types of dreams worth remembering.

Folks who sleep on their stomach have shown the tendency to have sexually explicit dreams that involve being unable to move and/or restrained. While these dreams are desirable and fun to have, dreams are not always good dreams.

Negative sexual dreams can also happen to tummy sleepers. Have you ever had a dream that your significant other was cheating on you? Or that you found yourself unable to perform well? Unfortunately, with the vividness and intensity of these dreams, you will not forget them in the morning, and you may wake up disoriented enough to think the dream was real. So, it is not necessary to rush into a new sleep position because they do not always have a great outcome.

When Sleeping on Your Left

Sleepers who lay on their left side have more negative dreams and nightmares than their counterparts on the right side. Researchers have no clues as to why this is the case, due to the overwhelming health benefits of sleeping on the left side, baffling scientists.

Experts do think that there could be a correlation between nightmares on the left side and a Chinese tradition that states the left side of the brain is in charge of the emotional side of things while the right side of the brain focuses on eating and being safe, thus left side sleepers have more emotional dreams and those right-side sleepers dream of safety.

The most interesting finding of all the research done on this topic is that even though left side sleepers have more negative dreams than right sleepers, they receive the best quality of sleep of all the other positions.

When Sleeping on Your Right

As talked about above, right side sleepers have fewer nightmares and more positive dreams overall than the left siders, but their quality of sleep decreases in comparison.

Right side sleepers often dream of burning and trouble swallowing. Researchers believe that this is due to the increased risk of succumbing to acid reflux when laying on your right side. Yet at the same time, they dream of relief and safety.

This oxymoron is confusing, but the studies consistently show this to be true.