My Sleepy Valentine
- By Adam Turner
- Feb 11, 2017
All you need is love, right? I’d make an argument for a few more things, perhaps king among them being quality sleep. Luckily, the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive, as the following common sleep positions for couples demonstrate. This Valentine’s Day, evaluate how you and your sweetheart spend your midnight hours and what that could indicate about your romance. According to a 2015 Daily Mail article, 94 percent of couples who are in contact throughout the night are happy in their relationship. Ten percent of all couples prioritize sleep by sleeping apart, while 25 percent of couples argue in bed about being kept up by their partner. Can you still feel the love tonight? With a properly fitted mattress from Sleep Outfitters, it’s a lot more likely.
1. The Spoon
Easily the most widely depicted in popular culture, the spoon in reality is adopted by only 18 percent, or about one in five couples. It’s an intimate and protective position, and one that implies trust given all of the contact being made. This style features several popular variations, naturally. The Loose Spoon is seen commonly in couples who have been together some time and now equally value their personal sleep preferences, while still keeping close. The Chase finds one partner moving away while the other follows them across the bed (needing space or playing hard to get?), trying to maintain contact.
2. The Independence
Two lovers facing opposite directions. An open bed with space in between them. A house divided? It’d be tempting to view this setup in a negative light, but the truth is usually quite the opposite. A whopping 27 percent of couples are reported to sleep this way, and rather than illustrate distance, relationship psychologist Corrine Sweet explains that this position can indicate security as well as closeness. Ditto for a similar position, The Back-to-Back, where couples face opposite directions while still touching. Twenty-three percent of couples sleep this way, meaning half of all couples look away from one another throughout the night. A much smaller percentage (3%) still sleep apart, but facing one another.
3. The Knot
In a new relationship, it can be hard to take your hands off your partner. The Knot takes this to its logical extreme, as the couple even sleeps wrapped up in each other’s arms and legs. This can be undoubtedly sweet and help strengthen the connection between lovers, as well as allow space after several minutes when the couple drifts apart (eight percent of couples sleep this way). However, if the couple never drifts and spends the entire night entangled, it can be a sign of over-dependence on one another (two percent of couples reportedly sleep this way). Some find a compromise by just tangling legs (which sometimes can imply ambivalence about sharing true affection).
4. The Hog
One partner stretches out their body, sleeps at an angle, or pushes their partner to the edge, dominating all the space. This is rarely a good sign. It illustrates a relationship off-balance, a power struggle at play, or perhaps just a selfish and/or too accommodating partner. It may be time to put them in their literal place, or invest in a fairer sleep environment altogether if bed size is the leading culprit.
5. The Heartbeat
Seen often in new, passionate, or rekindled love, this position sees one partner under the other’s arm, head and hands resting on the other’s chest, legs often wrapped as well. Four percent of couples sleep in this way. It is both a protective position and a position welcoming that protection, and aren’t relationships all about such compromises?
6. The Bellyflop
Sleeping on your stomach could be a simple preference: some people just sleep easier face down. However, it can also hint at some deeper intimacy issues with your partner: it is closed off, separate, and uninviting. If you’re worried about such issues, try starting the night in a different position and let yourself revert to your preferred comfortable position as the night goes on. Or at the very least hold hands as your drift off face first into your pillow.
Sleep Outfitters wishes you and yours a lovely Valentine’s Day, no matter how you sleep at night!
Sources:
8 Sleep Positions for Couples and What They Reveal About Your Relationship – Reader’s Digest
What Your Sleeping Position With a Partner Says About Your Relationship – Huffington Post
What Your Sleeping Position Says About Your Relationship - MindBodyGreen
