I’ve had very vivid dreams recently and I was wondering what some underlying factors could be. At first, I thought it was the stress from the past couple weeks. I have been interviewing for jobs and planning a big move, but I noticed a more subtle factor: I was sleeping a great deal more on my left side.
Now, that may not seem like a big deal, what position you sleep in, but with the research I’ve done, I found it can have a large effect on how much you dream and what kind of dreams you have.
In Matt Berical’s article, he looks at the results of a couple studies, the first published by Sleep and Hypnosis back in 2004:
“63 volunteers were asked to sleep either on their left side or their right side. They were then asked to fill out a sleep quality survey upon waking. The survey covered dreams and nightmares, their vividness, and how the participants felt in the morning.
The researchers found that the left side group were far more likely to have nightmares. They report that 40.9 percent of the volunteers reported having disturbing dreams, compared with just 14.6 percent of those who slept on their right-hand side. The right side group were more likely to remember dreams involving feelings of relief or safety, but they also reported lower quality sleep overall.”
Another study he looks at is by researchers at Hong Shue Yan University in Hong Kong, which has similar results.
Now, I’m not one for playing it safe on the golf course, so why should I when it comes to sleep? Yes, sleeping on my right side can lead to fewer bad dreams, but also fewer dreams overall. Dreams are one area in my life where absolutely anything can happen. I don’t need to be in control every second of the day and night. There are times I need to let go and enjoy the ride.
So I will continue to sleep on my left side, dare to dream, and get a better night’s sleep.