40 Percent Of Americans Prefer Sleeping On This Side Of The Bed, According To Research

Here's how what side of the bed you sleep on affects you.

By Nicole Weaver
Last updated on Aug 21, 2023

Photo: Rido | Canva

A lot of people really like routines that don't actually matter. This goes for which way we put the toilet paper roll in (over or under?) and it's also true for which side of the bed we prefer to sleep on.

These things might surprisingly become an issue once you move in together because a survey has found that men and women tend to sleep differently and spoiler alert: we're kind of stubborn about changing our sleeping patterns.

According to a 2015 survey conducted by Saatva Mattress, 40 percent of Americans prefer the right side of the bed over the left.

Turns out that there are interesting differences in sleeping patterns between the sexes, too. Women are 24 percent more likely to face away from their partners while they sleep, which makes sense, and 18 percent more women than men would rather give up the TV remote than their side of the bed.

Who wants to be facing toward someone only to have their gross sleeping breath in your face? Men are 14 percent more likely to sleep on the right side of the bed.

Another interesting thing is that things tend to change once a baby comes into the household. The survey found that more than twice as many women change the side of the bed they prefer after having a baby. Perhaps they want the side that's closest to the door to save a few extra steps?

The survey also shows that it's not just in our heads; people are, indeed, territorial about which side they sleep on. They found that 40 percent of adults have always slept on the same side of the bed but aren't sure why. Half of them admitted that they didn't consciously pick that side and 30 percent said they would think more about it now.

Some more interesting statistics from the survey are that nearly two-thirds of Americans face away from their partners in bed, and 20 percent said if they could, they would switch sides with their partner. 79 percent of the people said they had to give up their side of the bed for their partner.

Why does the right side seem to be so popular? It seems more men prefer it than women, and that right-side sleeping males feel relaxed instead of stressed most of the time when compared to men sleeping on the left. Try to switch sides with your partner tonight and see how your sleep is affected.