Sleeping on your back

by seattleniceguy 21 Replies latest jw friends

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  seattleniceguy

  I was raised a Witness, so from an early age I got into the habit of bowing my head to pray. The idea was that to look up would be disrespectful. Of course, it soon struck me that when praying in bed, you're brazenly staring straight up at God, so I started rolling onto my side to pray. Soon, it felt disrespectful even to sleep while facing up. So since I was perhaps eight years old, I have slept on my side. In more recent years I've tried to go to sleep on my back, and I just can't do it. It feels unnatural, even if it doesn't feel particularly wrong anymore.

  Weirdly, I can sleep on my back when I take a brief nap on the couch. It's only in a bed that I have difficulty, which leads me to believe that it's a result of this conditioning. Have any of you ever experienced such a thing?

  SNG
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  Odrade

  some researchers/shrinks have drawn a correlation between sleep position and personality or psychological state. I don't know about the whole disrespectful to pray thing, but I'm a tummy sleeper myself. I think it's cause I'm afraid I'll snore really loud if I sleep on my back...

  Odrade
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  frenchbabyface

  Have any of you ever experienced such a thing?

  No ... but I just can't sleep on my back, I don't know why
  (only lay on my back sometime before sleeping to really fall assleep) ... otherwise I can't
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  Scully

  I have trouble sleeping on my back too. My preferred sleep position is on my tummy or side. There's no way I can sleep on my back, I just can't seem to get comfortable. If I try, my back ends up stiff and sore. So I think some conditioning is involved too.

  There is some interesting literature on calming babies that suggests that the sidelying and stomach lying positions are very effective in stopping a baby from crying, and that sleeping on the back invokes the natural startle reflex, making the baby feel like he or she is falling. While sleeping on the back is the safest position for babies (with regard to SIDS - Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) putting a baby on his or her side or tummy is one way to stop them from crying.

  Some cultures (Chinese and Japanese, in particular) believe that the position you are facing at death indicates the direction your soul goes when it leaves the body. As a precaution, many will sleep on their backs so that if they die in their sleep, their soul goes upward to heaven. They almost never sleep on their stomachs, because they don't want their soul going downward (to hell). If they were to sleep on their side, their soul would stay in the earthly realm and continue to disturb the living.

  Love, Scully
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  Sunnygal41

  I've heard that men snore quite a bit when they sleep on their backs because their testicles fall over their anuses and create vapor lock!

  Terri
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  Nosferatu

  I've heard that men snore quite a bit when they sleep on their backs because their testicles fall over their anuses and create vapor lock!

  Uh oh. Are you trying to say that my girlfriend is really a man?
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  Sunnygal41

  LOL! Well...............do a check, does she have testicles? Are they over her anus when she is snoring??????????? Then, if the answer is no to the above two questions, you can rest assured that your girlfriend is not a man, she is probably just exhausted from dealing with your demands..........
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  Mulan

  I can't sleep on my back. It hurts my back. Side or tummy always.
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  maybesbabies

  Of course, it soon struck me that when praying in bed, you're brazenly staring straight up at God, so I started rolling onto my side to pray

  My goodness, you've come a long way, man!!!! A bottle of good whiskey, and you'll have no trouble at all!!!
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  amac

  I was taught to bow my head, just so I wouldn't be tempted to look around and not pay attention during the prayer.

  On the sleeping subject...back and side for me, can't do the tummy.