Couples Who Go To Sleep In This Position Get It On More, Science Says
My partner and I don't often fight, but when we do, it's usually over the position we decide to sleep in at night. We've got a couple of reasons for this tension. First of all, he gets really hot at night, and I get really cold. As a result of this, he wants his space, and I want to cuddle for warmth. Then, when we actually do decide to cuddle, we both want to be big spoon. The main issue is that we can't agree on one best sleep position for the two of us.
A new study conducted by Mattress Advisor of 1,000 coupled-up Americans looked into the positions most couples sleep in, the positions they'd rather not sleep in, and, most importantly, the positions of couples who are most likely to get it on. One note I'd like to add before we get into it is that the study did primarily focus on heterosexual couples.
First, let's talk about the position that most couples actually sleep in. Both the men and the women surveyed agreed on the same position. While I'd like to imagine all couples are falling asleep like two cute little lovebirds spooning the night away, the fact of the matter is that the position most couples sleep in is pretty unexciting. What is this unexciting position, you ask? Most couples prefer sleeping on their sides with just their butts touching. For men, this was followed by spooning with some space between them, and then, spooning closely. For women, this was followed by spooning closely and then sleeping completely separately.
The fact that the top three positions for both men and women involved them each sleeping on their side isn't a coincidence, either. CNN cited that scientists believe sleeping on your side can do all sorts of things, from helping your brain develop to improving breathing to reducing your lower back pain.
When it comes to sleeping positions that people don't particularly love to sleep in, it turns out my problems with my partner aren't totally unique. But it turns out most women absolutely hate being the "big spoon." Meanwhile, men are totally cool with being the little spoon. Spooning with themselves as the little spoon didn't even rank in their bottom five sleeping positions.
Surprisingly, spooning with the guy as the big spoon ranked as the second least favorite for women, as well. So it looks like spooning, in general, is just not as popular as I expected it to be.
But just because a couple starts off sleeping in a certain position, doesn't mean that they'll end up sleeping that way, too. Almost 80 percent (76.5, to be exact) of the time, the study found that couples wind up shifting sleeping positions.
So, for example, while most people agreed that they fell asleep with only their butts touching, only 37.5 percent of them stay in that position throughout the entire night. Almost a fourth of them said that they spread even further apart from each other throughout the night. And almost 20 percent (exactly 18.6) said that the man winds up sleeping on his stomach, with the woman on her back.
All right, now for the juicy stuff. Of all of these positions, which one inspires couples to ~get it on~ more than the others? Basically, the survey found that the more you touch each other while you're sleeping, the more often you're likely to have sex. For example, you are the most likely to have sex more often when you sleep face-to-face with your legs and arms wrapped around each other.
As you can see in the above visual, a close second to that sleeping face-to-face position is spooning. This means that, as annoying as it might be to sleep spooning, it might be worthwhile for your sex life.
I, personally, think I'll pass on directly inhaling my partner's morning breath in exchange for a higher likelihood of having sex, but if you and your bae can weather this position, then, hey, more power to ya!
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