Why We’re Stuck on a Particular Side of the Bed

In sustainability circles, the concept of habits presents itself a lot. Usually, it is in the context of the modification of unsustainable, such as rupture with bottles of single -use water or coffee pods for more environmentally friendly options.

Understanding your habits in general can be an important element to become more durable. So let’s look at one of the most durable habits in life: what side of the bed you sleep on. Although it may not have a sustainability side, so to speak, the psychology of habits is fascinating and can play a big role in its personal carbon footprint.

In terms of bed sides, no matter how much you could try to change it, maybe even by changing sides every two evening, you end up choosing one side and holding it.

And why not?

You just have on your side of the bed. The night lamp, for example, has become an instinctive scope. You can deactivate your alarm without opening your eyes. This half -eaten snack still patiently awaits a feather at the end of the evening. And let the crumbs fall where they can – it’s your side of the bed!

Over time, you have adapted your side of the bed to your specific needs. Why learn new behaviors every two evening? It may be shocking to reset your habits just after establishing a system.

However, in this case, the rupture of habit can be more difficult. Fortunately, you may not have a reason to change it, but still.

Exactly why we choose a particular side to install the camp for a third of our lives is a little more complicated. As evolutionary psychology complicated.

There is surprisingly rare research on the details of the sleep sides. A major study published some time ago, however, suggests that we position the entire bed according to primordial fear.

Researchers at the University of Munich found that “people prefer sleeping places that allow them to see the bedroom entries (doors and windows) from a distance while remaining hidden from the entries themselves.”

The fear of predation, even in the sung -sung houses of the 21st century, is always so large that the participants in the study massively positioned their beds as much as possible from the door.

But what about divisions In The bed? Let us instinctively take the most distant side of the door – even if we share the bed with someone else?

It is an even more troubled research matter. Paul C. Rosenblatt, professor at the University of Minnesota, proposed several factors in his 2012 book, entitled “Two in a bed: The Social System of Couple Bed Sharing”.

We can, for example, enjoy the morning sun which extends from the window – more than our partner who hates light, the thirst for darkness. The proximity of the bathrooms, even if it only saves a few steps, can also be a factor. For frequent tinklers, these steps add up. Rosenblatt suggests another reason, a little more noble of our choice in real estate. Men can sleep on the side of the bed closest to the door to keep their partners, even in sleep.

A 2011 survey will suggest that the left side of the bed is a happier place. For the survey – sent by a chain of hotels – 3,000 adults were questioned about their happiness at home and at work, and of course, on which side of the bed on which they were sleeping.

The happiest and most well -adjusted participants reported that they had the left side of the bed (as determined by facing the bed, without being). The researchers also noted that most of these “generally more joyful” sleepers refused to exchange the sides of right -handers. There is a limit, apparently, even to love.

But it is important to note that the survey does not clearly show that the left side of the bed made people happier, or if happier people were simply attracted on this side.

At the end of the day (literally), your usual preference for one side of the bed may not have much impact beyond the conversation with your partner. But in general, understand why we do what we may do an important part to make healthy and lasting choices – and this is not something on which sleeping.