Thread: Sleep Positions

I posted this on another board, but only one person replied and they didn't know the answer. I'd like to see what you guys have to say about this:

I've noticed, if I am dreaming in a certain position , and I half wake up, and switch positions, sometiems I have the HARDEST time picturing that dream. I just simply cant make a clear mental picture of it. Then I switch back to the original position, and it works, I start to dream it again.

This is odd, and I've noticed it in situations where I'm awake as well. Many times have I been sitting, thinking about something for a long period of time. Let's say one example, where I was on a road trip. I'm not sure what I was imagining, but that's not important. My head was tilted to the side, and my eyes were opened. I was like this, thinking, for about 10 minutes. My neck started to cramp so I tilted it the other way and tried to continue thinking. It simply didn't work, or if I did manage, the mental image wasn't as clear. I switched my head back to the original angle, and I could picture what I had been thinking about quite clearly. I also noticed, if I looked at the object I had been staring at for a long time while I was originally thinking, then I would also be able to create a much clearer mental image.

I think it's pretty much the same thing... asleep and awake, and has to do with, not so much the position of your whole body, but the position of your head, and your eyes. I'm pretty sure most of you have experienced it before... Why does this happen (if anyone here knows a lot about how the brain works)?

Cheers,
Dylan

I think if you sleep with your spine strait it helps your flow of blood from body to head, increasing senses, etc...neurological flow, etc...

Keeping a certain position is commonly given as advice for remembering dreams.

Im not exactly sure why, but maybe I can connect other facts to the oddity.

In the early stages of sleep, one of the things that helps to relax you is your blood. The more you approach sleep, your blood sucks away from the skin, especially the skin that is touching something ie a blanket. This means you can't feel things as well. The result is kind of like being in a sensory deprevation tank; there is nothing to disturb you.
Maybe this is why you feel more relaxed in a certain position, and the relaxation is helping you with dreams.

Hmm, I didn't mean so much relaxation and ability to have dreams... more why the way your head and eyes are positioned while you're thinking of something, and how if you move them, sometimes it's harder to picture whatever you were thinking about until you move your eyes and head back into the same position.

I'm no neurologist, so this is just a guess. I've noticed very much the same thing.
If I stay in exactly the same position, I can often get back to the same dream, or
at least a very similar one. But if I move, definately not. My thoughts are that
maybe when you tilt/move the position of your head, blood flows from the recently
active area of your brain to a new area. And I do know that different parts of the
brain store different genres of ideas (i.e. the biggest one being right brain v. left).
It makes sense to me, albeit it is a very basic explanation. Whattaya think?

I was just talking about this with a couple people and we reached this idea:

Perhaps it has something to do with the angle and perception that your brain senses your head being in. The fluid in your ears giving your brain messages about gravity, and it orients itself.

If you sleep with this angle/perspective and dream (doesnt need to necessarily be the same perspective, but just dreaming WHILE sleeping in this position) your mind associates this specific orientation with the dream... if you turn your head to another direction and try to think of the dream again, you're sort of disorienting your thoughts because they have been linked and built upon the other perspective.

Just an idea, and it seems to make sense to me. Thoughts anyone?

Cheers,
Dylan

I've noticed that if I'm dreaming and I wake up, if I stay absolutely still I will generally fall straight back into the same dream. If I move a muscle, even as little as just shifting my arm, I may still fall asleep again but generally not into the same dream. Also, this has a more ''falling asleep" feel to it, as opposed to if I don't move and I just seem to merge back into the dream.

Strange. My expierience is usually, if I am having a great dream, and I wake up, I can go to the restroom, or get a drink, and while I'm up, I'll be thinking about that cool dream I was having, then usually, when I lay back down and go back to sleep, I go right back into the same dream, and pick up right where I left off. It happens this way for my Mom too, as we've talked about it.

I'll give you my book on '101 Sleeping Positions' if you want. I have a different one every night, and not by choice.

Cool, let's hear more about this book. An e-book is it?

Dylan

I'm full of shit.

I seem To find I dream while on my back.

Where Do you lie on this topic?:

http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/viewtopic....light=lye+topic

Another post in this direction.

I havnt got a clue how to lay in my bed comfortably anymore , no matter which way i lie im never comfortable

Haha Khronos, how was I supposed to know? The name did sound kinda silly though.

Acid Alex, try tilting your head back (when lying on your side) or in an upward left or right corner. These occasionally work for me, I haven't the slightest clue why. Sometimes if I've been uncomfortable, I go into the weirest positions, sprawled diagonally across my bed haha. Try switching your pillow to the other side though, it's kinda refreshing to be sleeping from a different perspective in your room, it might help.

Take it easy,
Dylan

Heh,
Cheers Ill try that in a minute, bedtime for me i gotta get up for soddin college .. pfft.

I think id sleep better if my bedroom wasnt so clutterd .... its a small sroom and its mostly filled with furniture .. me bed is quite cramped...
Man i need to move

Anyways L8r

Oh, I also just remembered. You might not find the head-back thing too comfortable. If you don't though, just stay there. You might not fall asleep, but just stay with it for a bit, and when you go back to a more "normal" sleep position you'll find it a lot more relaxing.

Cheers,
Dylan

Hey , i just woke up ... and it helped alot
Cheers

Good to hear. Out of curiosity, which one did you try? The "switching the pillow to the other side of the bed" trick or the "tilting head back" one? Or perhaps both?

Dylan

mm, i almost always go to sleep on my sides, in a fetal position, as i have a hard time sleeping any other way. a lot of that has to do with some back and stomach issues i have. however, i have noticed that whenever i wake myself up from a lucid, or really even when i wake up from a lucid at all, i'm on my back, often with my arms crossed over my chest, and it's between 3 and mayb 12 seconds before i can move more than my eyes. i'm not sure on the logic there, but i seem to ld on my back in any case... i don't think i do with other kinds of dreams, but i could be wrong.

I tryed tilting my head back
And im the same as Negaigoto , i always sleep on my sides Because i got bad back and im always hungry which makes me feel abit ill if i lay on my back.

But i fidn it easier to visualize things in my head when im on me back.

Which is annoying but hey, nowt i can do about it.

Yay, that's so cool. I only said what worked for me... I was surprised that it worked for someone else too!

Cheers,
Dylan

Dylan,
Thats really interesting what you were saying on how your brain creates different perspectives for your mind when you are sleeping. That makes sense because when you're sleeping, you're lying down but in our dreams, our brain makes everything right side up (just like if you were awake and moving around in real life). So if your brain has to translate the fact that you're lying down inot a dream world which is the right way up then it would make sense that if you move your body position, it would mess up that perception that your mind creates. Good stuff.

By the way, I read your posts on that other board. I was posting as "Wes" if your remember. This board is WAY better.

Aah... Wes. Yes I remember you replied to one of my posts.... did I ever get back to you? I forget sorry if I didn't. But yes, I agree, this board is much better.

Cheers,
Dylan

You guys were talking about laying on your back w/ your head back.
And Negaigoto mentioned having hands folded on chest. This struck
me as really interesting as I made a possible connection. Check it!
Frederick Van Eeden - one of the first known modern lucid dreamers
and the coiner of the term Lucid Dream, in fact, noted in his writings
that he always laid in the same position... on his back, hands folded
on his chest! And he is one of the most prolific LD'ers in recorded
history. Coincidence? Maybe. I know the tibetan monks, starting from
way back (like 1000 BC or so) said the best way to enter the conscious
dream state is on the right side (for males, left for females). I didn't
think about it much before I read these last few posts, but I do now
recall waking up on my back for most lucids. But I don't think it's
neccessarily a rule for me or anything. Hmm. Something to give more
thought and experimentation though. By the way, I also have a pretty
hard time getting comfortable on my back. I'll refrain from making any
gender-jokes there. hehe.

Here's some info on the guy I mentioned in that last post.
Take the time to read it, it's really quite fascinating. I mean
this guy is the main predecessor and initial basis for the
LaBerge research. When I found it a year plus ago, I could
not stop reading. So I hope some of you find it as interesting
as I did. Have at it:

http://www.lucidity.com/vanEeden.html

http://psychology.about.com/library/weekly...y/aa103000a.htm

This next one is a book, the only book, he wrote called, "Bride of Dreams".
Not a scientific study, but a work of fiction based on his experience and
research and stuff. It's sort of a tough read, but admittedly so:

ftp://ftp.archive.org/pub/etext/etext05/7bodr10.txt


I'll post these as anew subject in General Discussion too, in case
people didn't read this thread.