Sleep positions in the young adult and their relationship with the subjective quality of sleep.

The sleep characteristics and the body positions of eight good and eight poor sleepers were monitored in the laboratory for 2 consecutive nights preceded by 2 adaptation nights. Throughout the nights, sleep positions and sleep motility were monitored with a super-8 camera, and a new scoring method was used. Overall, the findings supported earlier observations regarding sleep positions and sleep motility. Interestingly, poor sleepers spent more time awake and had more awakenings than good sleepers. Consistently, poor sleepers spent more time on their backs with their heads straight. These results suggest that sleep positions constitute an important sleep variable and that they may be related to the quality of sleep.