Which side of the bed?
 

Hi everyone. Talking to a few friends the other day I realized that their dads always slept on one side, and their mothers on the other. It's always been my understanding that most couples sleep with the man on the right, and the woman on the left.

For the purposes of this poll:

- If you are both lying on your backs, the woman is on the left, and the man is on the right. (Woman to the left of the man)

- If you are both lying on your backs, the man is on the left, and the woman is on the right. (Man to the left of the woman)

I'm wondering whether there's a reason for this (like men walking on the road-side of the sidewalk, to protect the lady from splashes of mud from passing cars) or if it really is just random, half-and-half.

I sleep on the left side (girl) and it's mainly for comfort.

vote Lying on your back: woman to the left of the man.

I've noticed that my parents do sleep like that, but me and my gf don't have a preference.

i sleep on the left

i like sleeping on the left side of the bed but on my front.

Man to the left of the woman. That's just how it somehow managed to be from the start.

Depending where we lived she takes the side closer to the bathroom. Currently she is on the right and I am on the left or in the other room if the 3 1/2 year old decides his room is to scary.

I'm with JonesBoys on this one...she gets the one closer to the bathroom, or if we're in a small room (like a guestroom), the side thats NOT against the wall. As for the scary room, I'll update you in 3 yrs when my son is 3.5 yrs old :)

Going back to when we first had kids, she asked me to get them all the time in the night, so I was always closest to the door to her right.

Wasn't this a Seinfield episode?

It may have been a Seinfeld episode, it's been too long since I've seen that show! I guess my question is inane enough for them to make an episode out of ;)

Wow, 50% for both answers so far, this has totally blown my theory out of the water.

At home, man on the right. At a hotel, I get the side by the table, so that I have a place to put my glasses.

On the left, but last year on the right. Depends which side is against the wall. Also, it's just a twin, so that makes it fun. (College)

When I'm laying in bed, my bf is on my left side.

He prefers sleeping on his left side facing out, and I don't have a preference in sleeping position as such....but being on the right side, I'm
1. closer to the door - every night I'm up at least 1x to pee ... and I'm first out of bed in the morning
2. My side of the bed is directly under a skylight, so I can lay in bed and stare at the stars. (we set the bed up that way on purpose). :)

the light is on my side as well, so I'm the one who gets to turn off the light. :|

I prefer the top side of the bed. You're welcome to the underside if you like, or maybe the left or right side.

Well, I don't have anyone to share a bed with, but I do remember that my dad always slept to the left of my mom, the reason being that she needed to be closer to the door when she was pregnant with me so she could get to the bathroom without waking him up. Before that, she had always slept on the left (away from the door) because he had to get up for work earlier than she did. They just never switched back after having children.

One of our favorite recent purchases was a combination remote/dimmer switch for the main light in our bedroom. Very easy to install, and very decadent. I can't recommend this enough.

I find I like to be on the left side of the girl, just seems more comfortable for me (i tend to enjoy having my arm around her initially while sleeping, and right arm around is just more comfortable for me). Otherwise, nearest to the wall if the bed's against the wall.

Hell, I'm supposed to be on the right side, but depending on which bed, and where Anitra has the bed in the room, sometimes I'm on the left. I look at it this way, I'm damned lucky to be in bed with a sexy, good looking woman anyway, not gonna bitch very much about what part of the bed. At least It hasn't been down at the foot yet!

I really don't care what side of the bed I'm on if there's a guy there. I'm adaptable :D

For now I get the middle, cuz my bed's ALLL mine :lol:

I sleep on the right. It wasn't always so--when we started sleeping together, it was in college dorm twin beds, and we sort of did whatever it took not to fall out. Our first Bed-bed was a double-sized futon, and I slept on the left. We'd snuggle up together the same way every night.

Eventually my chiropracter pointed out that my hips and lower back were in a funny position on account of all that one-sided sleeping. So we traded sides--now I sleep on the right and lurkette's on the left. But now we sleep in a king-sized bed because a) we occasionally have guests, and 2) lurkette's feet twitch and jump and kick all night and I need some real estate to retreat to.

I sleep on the left... because that's where I sleep when she's not here and I'm used to it.

Reason 1 -- I prefer being closer to the bathroom.

Reason 2 -- My ex and I slept the other way; everything about my relationship with Lebell is different (better!)

The wife was agnostic on the subject since she tends to migrate all over the bed anyways. I had always slept the same way due to the way my room was layed out from the time I was 10 to 20. I slept so that my night stand blocked the light from my window and just got very used to that position.

I sleep on the left, he's on the right. Which coincidently is the way my parents sleep. But I chose that side cuz when we first started sleeping together that was the wall side of his bed. I figured if he needed more room I could hug the wall and take up less space (not that we slept much). But it's also the side I always slept on when I was living with my parents - even though I always had a queen size bed I slept of the left cuz it was closest to my table.

Neither, I sleep on my stomach

Depends on what time of the night I'm going to sleep or need to wake up, rather either of us are going to read, where I'm at and if there's a wall.

Pretty much it could go either way.

I am always on his left, and usually I am closer to the door. (Depends on how the room is made)
This reminds of something I heard where the woman sleeps facing the door,( because she usually gets up with the kids) and the woman sits at the kitchen table, seated closer to the kitchen (because she usually gets up more during the meal).
There may have been more, but I can't remember. It all seemed to hold true in my life and friends I asked about it.

I have you closest to the door in case someone breaks in the house.... :lol:

Nah....just kiddin' babe........Just like we were married and will, I am sure, be buried....
Although, it sounds like your fairly well trained........ :lol: :icare: :thumbsup:

Currently she sleeps to the right of me. But we switch places often.

My wife sleeps on the side of the bed that gives her better access to getting to the bathroom. She gets up 2 or 3 times a night where I rarely get up during the night. Currently, I'm sleeping on the right side of the bed. In our old house, I slept on the left side.

My wife prefers me sleeping on the side of the bed closer to the window.
It has been that way in each of the places we haved lived.

I think it's just coincedence but we do sleep the same as my parents did growing up (and as his parents do too), I'm on the left he's on the right. Except for one year we had a waterbed and for some reason I was on the right.

If there are two beds in a hotel room, except for using one for nookie, we both take a bed to spread out (sorry to housekeeping!). :lol: As to actual sleeping, I'm sort of half on my stomach, half on my side with my leg over a pillow and my bottom arm streched up under my head pillow. I also flip from side to side numerous times throughout the night, taking my leg pillow with me. DH hates it because I pull the covers off of him doing this manuvere.

We have a King size but even so, I went through a period a couple years ago where I was like Lurkette, squirming in my sleep. If I had any type of dream/nightmare where I was struggling, I would kick out and just NAIL DH in the leg. He'd get so pissed (as I would) but there wasn't anything I could do about it. The guest bed got used alot for a few months ;)

Ali

As ratbastid pointed out, we started out with me on the right, but switched for chiropractic reasons (hrumph!) By that reasoning, we ought to switch off every so often so we're not always lying on our same sides. I still think of the left side of the bed as "my" side.

I'm surprised by all the responses! I was so sure this poll would be more like 80 per cent 'man on right, woman on left'. At the moment it's 46 per cent to 54 per cent. I've gone my whole life thinking this was one of those 'definites' in life.

I'm also surprised how many people sleep in a way so it's convenient, not just 'because'. I assumed that this was something you just imitated from your parents, and convenience had less to do with it than some sort of tradition. And I never knew how many people changed positions, I thought once someone has a side of the bed, it's that way for life!

/me wonders what else he doesn't know about the world...

Well I would have thought something like that too.

Everyone I know personally here sleeps 'man on right, woman on left'.

I wonder if it's a northern hemisphere / southern hemisphere thing. Much like the way the water swirls down the plug hole... :confused: :)

I like sleeping on the side closer to the door. Right now it's on the left of him, before we moved here it was to his right. I also can't sleep as well on my right side as I can on my left, and usually he's holding me when we fall asleep. If I'm cuddling him, we usually switch sides.

Although, sometimes I'll sleep on the right side (closer to the alarm clock) if he has to wake up for something really important because it wakes me up but not him, so I get to jab him in the ribs :p

I sleep on my right side, so I end up sleeping on the right side of the bed. Also, my husband had a bigger prefernce than I did, and he always picked the left side, so I'm sure that's influenced where I sleep

i usually sleep with my woman to the left but this new girl seems to have turned the tables and scored my side of the bed....i dont like sleeping on my side facing someone else.

I sleep closest to the door- this puts my wife on the left side, and me on the right- this is due to our mutual paranoia- she wants me closest to the only entrance should any unauthorized people come through, and I agree, as it allows me to do much needed product testing should such a situation arise ( I make and sell weapons for a living)