What does your sleeping position say about your relationship?

The position that you and your partner sleep in is a signal of the strength of your relationship.

By Dave Lancaster |

14:54 16 April 2014

It has been revealed that the happiest relationships see both partners sleeping together less than an inch apart and face to face. 

 

Partners who sleep with a gap wider than 30 inches between them and adopt a "no touching" rule were unhappiest, a study of 1,000 people as part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival stated. 

 

Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist of the University of Hertfordshire and leader of the study, commented: "One of the most important differences involved touching. Ninety four per cent of couples who spent the night in contact with one another were happy with their relationship, compared to just 68% of those that didn't touch.

 

"This is the first survey to examine couples' sleeping positions, and the results allow people to gain an insight into someone's personality and relationship by simply asking them about their favourite sleeping position."

 

It was also revealed that more creative types tend to sleep on their left hand side while outgoing extroverts tend to sleep closer to their partners. 

 

Professor Wiseman acknowledged that other factors such as snoring could affect the results. 

 

“The key issue is if you have a couple who used to sleep close together but are now drifting further apart in bed, then that could symptomatic of them growing apart when they are awake,” he said. "Change in a couple's sleeping habits is the important factor."

 

Here's how the study of sleep/relationship happiness broke down: 

 

55%: Face to face but not touching

91%: Face same direction but touching

91%: Back to back but touching

76%: Face same direction but not touching

74%: Back to back but not touching 

 

Overall, those touching were 94% satisfied while those not touching were 68% satisfied.