We all have a favorite sleep position. Sometimes, this involves spreading the entire body diagonally across the bed. This position is popular with tall people who would otherwise struggle to feel comfortable.
While diagonal sleeping takes up most of the bed, this posture has some advantages.
If you change position in your sleep, you’re less likely to wake up, it’s easier to distribute your weight evenly, and diagonal sleeping contributes to the Indian principles of Vastu shastra.
If diagonal sleeping causes issues, train the body to accept a different position. Create a barrier of pillows, wrap yourself in blankets, or change your head pillows to protect your neck and shoulder muscles.
What Does It Mean To Sleep Diagonally?
Sleeping diagonally involves tilting your body to a 180O angle, with your head on a pillow to the right of the bed and your feet at the left, or vice versa.
Most people sleep on their side when diagonal, but this position can also be used in the supine position (lying on your back) or the prone position (on your stomach).
Keep the body as straight as possible to sleep at a diagonal angle. This will prevent curvature of the spine and minimize the risk of pain in the lower back.
Why Do I Sleep Diagonally?
Few studies into sleep psychology have looked at diagonal sleeping postures.
This means that it’s unlikely that this position reveals anything significant about your personality, although it may suggest that you don’t enjoy sharing a bed.
The likeliest reason people sleep diagonally is to utilize space on a mattress.
It’s also popular among people who experience strain on the back, neck, leg, or shoulder muscles because it divides weight from all pressure points.
Advantages of Sleeping Diagonally
If you prefer sleeping diagonally, you could enhance your chances of a good night’s sleep.
Here are the advantages of adopting this sleep posture:
Extra Space
A double bed mattress measures 4.6′ wide and 6.3′ long. Sprawling diagonally across your bed is an easy way to make the most of the space afforded in your bed, especially if you sleep alone.
If you sleep diagonally, you’ll have the best of both worlds. You can take advantage of the entire length and width provided rather than leaving half the bed unoccupied.
This position is highly beneficial if you’re tall and your feet stick out of the bottom of a bed.
Combining 6′ in length with over 4′ in width means you can enjoy every inch of the mattress and utilize a greater sleeping area, especially if you have a single or small double bed.
This is why sleeping diagonally feels more comfortable. You won’t have any restrictions and will likely fall asleep faster because your muscles are relaxed.
Changing Sleep Position
It’s rare for anybody to retain the same position through 8 hours of sleep, with the average person unwittingly shifting positions up to 30 or 40 times in a single night of sleep.
If you’re positioned diagonally, making these moves and remaining asleep is much easier.
If you’re lying on your side to the right of the bed, you can only roll in one position. To the left, where you may take the supine position. This will enhance the risk of snoring or sleep apnea, which can wake you or anybody sharing your bed.
If you start the night sleeping diagonally, you can easily switch between the supine and prone positions as many times as you need. The journal Sleep suggests this benefits older people, who change position less frequently.
Changing sleep position periodically will prevent you from placing too much weight on one body part, meaning you’re likelier to wake up feeling physically and mentally refreshed.
If pain in the back or legs wakes you up, you’ll likely be irritable and struggle with sleep inertia.
Distribution of Weight
You can distribute your weight evenly throughout your body. This means you’ll put less pressure on your lower back, neck, and shoulders, waking up without aches and pains.
The ideal posture for sleeping involves keeping your spine as straight as possible and stretching your legs out. You can still bend your knees but are less likely to struggle with an equilibrium that keeps you comfortable.
If you prefer to sleep diagonally but still experience discomfort in your lumbar regions, consider sleeping with a pillow under your knees for greater spinal alignment. Remember that this pillow may move if you toss and turn in your sleep.
Vastu Shastra Principles
Vastu shastra is a traditional Indian system of architecture (the term is an exact Sanskrit translation for “science of architecture”) that can also apply to sleep.
Sleeping diagonally involves placing your head in 1 of 4 cardinal directions. According to practitioners of Vastu Shastra, the head positions while sleeping diagonally include:
| Facing Northeast | Sleeping with the head facing northeast invites unsettling energy. This is the cardinal direction of the Earth’s primary field, bringing excessive power to your sleep space. |
| Facing Northwest | Most Vastu Shastra practitioners consider facing the northwest a neutral sleeping position so you can rest well in this position. |
| Facing Southeast | Facing southeast is the ideal position for creative individuals. It’s claimed that sleeping facing this direction will ignite your artistic and creative energy while you sleep. |
| Facing Southwest | If you struggle to sleep for 8 hours, even when positioning yourself diagonally, face the southwest. This is the best position for feeling calm and relaxed in bed. |
Disadvantages of Sleeping Diagonally
In many respects, sleeping diagonally is a posture for lone sleepers. If you share a bed with somebody of similar stature, you may not have enough space to remain comfortable.
Imagine 2 people, one 6′ tall and the other 5’5, sharing a bed.
Unless you sleep with your legs entwined or on top of each other, and one person cradles their head in the chest of another, you’ll end up fighting for mattress space.
This arrangement may work if you prefer to cuddle with a partner while sleeping, but if you both need individual space, neither of you will enjoy a whole, uninterrupted night of sleep.
As sleeping diagonally encourages movement, the partner who enjoys this position may end up regularly kicking out and waking the other partner.
To sleep diagonally and share a bed, you may need a larger mattress. A queen- or king-sized bed may accommodate this posture without causing issues with either incumbent’s sleep.
How To Stop Sleeping Diagonally
There may come a time when you need to train yourself out of sleeping diagonally, whether because you have started sharing a bed or have changed to a different mattress.
If you need to stop sleeping diagonally, do the following:
Create A Barricade
The easiest way to stop sleeping diagonally is to create a barricade in the middle of the bed, preventing you from taking up more than half of the mattress.
You can use a row of pillows or cushions to create this barrier.
Ensure these pillows are firm enough to spring you back forward if you attempt to cross them, but don’t use cushions so hard that they will wake you if you interact with them.
Once you have your barrier in place, practice different sleep positions and find one that feels most comfortable. Side sleeping with a straight spine is the closest match to sleeping diagonally.
Upgrade Pillows
If your neck pillow is old and has begun to sag, you may find that sleeping diagonally is the only way to keep the spine straight while sleeping.
You may be unaware of this issue until you wake up with a stiff neck or shoulders when you stop sleeping diagonally or when your body naturally shifts into this position overnight to improve comfort.
Change neck pillows no less than every 2 years – sooner if you notice issues with your muscles or the pillows themselves. If you spot or feel lumps or dips in a pillow, throw them away and start over.
Thick, plump memory pillows are the ideal solution to preventing diagonal sleeping.
These will encourage side sleeping, which is beneficial for keeping to one side of the bed and maintaining a straight, unmoving back and neck.
Cocoon Yourself in Blankets
“Sheet-hogging” is a concern among partners sharing a bed, but if you get separate blankets, you can prevent yourself from sleeping diagonally by wrapping up in a single position.
Adopt the position in your bed that you would like to sleep in, ideally lying on your side on the far left or right of the mattress. Take one end of the blanket and wrap it around your entire body, tucking it under. Repeat this with the rest of the sheet.
It may take a few attempts to master this technique. Eventually, you’ll resemble a human taco and feel wholly surrounded and locked into position. This means you can’t wriggle and move yourself into a diagonal posture by accident or design.
If sleeping diagonally helps you gain 8 hours of rest and doesn’t cause issues for anybody sharing your bed, it can be an excellent way to make the most of the space a bed offers.
