Best Sleeping Position
What is the best sleeping position for you?
I remember having a horrible time sleeping, throughout my youth. I had the least amount of trouble when on my side, but my arms would fall asleep, my hands would get numb, my pillow wouldn’t be thick enough to keep my neck in alignment with the rest of my back, I’d toss and turn all night trying to find just the right position.
When I was a young teenager, I woke up one morning feeling incredibly alert and as well-rested as I’d ever felt. I felt very comfortable. I was alert enough to keep my position as it was, because I suddenly decided that whatever way I was sleeping, that was THE best position for me. I can’t find a diagram of it but it’s a modified form of the fetal position: on my side, the “under” leg straight, the “over” leg bent at the knee and drawn up as close to the chest as possible; the “under” arm straight and straight out, laying partially on the front of that shoulder; the “over” arm resting along my side, whether bent or straight.
I memorized this sleeping position, and the next night, tried it again. Woke up perfectly refreshed. Damn, I thought, That’s it.
I found that my “over” arm (the one resting on my side) made my hand tingle with lack of circulation by morning. So I began tucking a pillow between my side and my arm, elevating it. I’ve always slept in this position since. I got used to shuffling the pillow around so that it was between my side and whatever arm was “up”, no matter which side I slept on, so that it became an unconscious thing I just do without thinking or even waking. I tend to sleep so deeply in this position that I don’t even change sides most nights. It’s fairly rare that I’ll be in a different position when I wake up. Dunno why, that position is just “it” for me.
Also, I smiled to myself as I tucked the pillow between my side and my arm, imagining that somday, there might be someone’s arm tucked there rather than the pillow.
The druid loves to snuggle up with me as he’s falling asleep. I tend to sleep with my back to him, as I want room for my “lower” arm to lay straight. He wends his arm around my middle and I find I don’t need a pillow there at all.
Sleeping as a couple has been interesting and a unique experience in my life. Referring to the diagram in the linked article, we tend to fall asleep in “The Spoon”, transition to “Loosely Tethered”, and by morning we’re usually butt-to-butt in “Zen Style”, if not spooning again. *grins*
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Challenge yourself to Holidailies 2009 by writing one entry each day in December.
Can you blog each day for an entire month? Try it!
