Stomach Sleepers Beware: These 11 Jaw-Dropping Personality Quirks Will Have You Rethinking Your Bedtime Habits!
Added on November 17, 2025 inASTROLOGY CARDS
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Ever wonder if your midnight snoozing style says more about you than just how comfy your mattress is? Turns out, the way you flop down for the night might just be a window into your inner twister of quirks and traits. Sure, there’s no massive library of research tying sleep positions to personality—yet. But some cheeky studies dive into this, revealing, for instance, that those sprawling out like a “starfish” are just craving the spotlight, while stomach sleepers hide a cocktail of impulsivity and a thirst for control beneath their nocturnal postures. And speaking of control, with Mercury doing its usual dance of twists and turns today, could our sleep habits be a subconscious nod to the chaos or calm in our lives? Let’s unpack the quirky, the cozy, and the downright surprising personality tidbits your preferred sleeping position might be whispering about you. LEARN MORE.
While research is relatively lacking around the link between sleeping positions and personality traits on a general level, some studies do investigate the power of our bedtime preferences in this manner. For example, a person who sleeps like a “starfish” may prefer to be the center of attention, while people who sleep on their stomach usually share other interesting personality quirks, like impulsivity.
Even small things that have become a subconscious part of our routine can tell more about our internal well-being and personality than we realize. From the state of our living space to the position we find most comfortable in bed at night, it’s these small things that actually reveal quite a lot.
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According to clinical psychologist Michael J. Breus, people who regularly sleep on their stomachs in bed tend to be more anxious, grasping for control with closeness and stability wherever they can get it. Whether it’s a kind of hypervigilance at night in their space or an internal emotional turmoil that urges them to develop this anxiety, it influences the way they choose to sleep.
People who sleep on their stomachs usually share these interesting personality quirks — they crave the comfort and closeness of their bed when they lie on their stomachs, largely to cope with their internal sense of restlessness and anxiety.
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According to a Scientific Reports study, sensitive people tend to feel more lonely than other people navigating their everyday lives. They feel things more deeply and often adopt a radically empathetic personality that tends to drain them during the day without boundaries.
At night, these people may opt to sleep on their stomachs for a sense of regulation and control. Yes, it’s considered to be a “vulnerable position,” but in the safety of their own home, it could be a self-soothing ritual to cope with the exhaustion and drain of their days.
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Grounding practices and rituals tend to soothe anxiety and regulate a person’s nervous system, according to a 2014 study, in ways that can provide respite from a stressful routine or a day’s worth of interactions for an introvert or highly sensitive person.
Even if they’re not literally “grounding” with the Earth by sleeping on their stomach, connecting with their bed and feeling a sense of security in the position they choose at night could be a way for an individual to ground themselves after feeling chaos all day.
That’s why people who sleep on their stomachs usually share these interesting personality quirks — they’re problem-solvers, because even in bed, they’re finding ways to cope with anxious thoughts and a dysregulated nervous system.
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According to sleep researcher Samuel Dunkell, people who sleep on their stomach or in a “free-fall” position facing downward tend to be more compulsive, impulsive, anxious, and rigid than those who prefer other sleeping positions.
They may be less in touch with their emotional side during their waking hours, like a study from the Journal of Psychiatric Research associates with impulsivity, but at night, they lean into the soft, vulnerable sleeping position that provides them subconscious safety.
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Hyper-independence is often associated with unresolved childhood trauma and struggles with opening up to others, which is why clinical psychologist Amy Marschall argues that it can often spark a bit of guardedness that harms romantic and intimate relationships.
They struggle to lean into vulnerability and tend to avoid opening up emotionally in ways that reduce their misguided sense of control. However, at night, their subconscious sleeping patterns often tell another story about what their internal being yearns for.
People who sleep on their stomachs usually share these interesting personality quirks — during the day, they’re hyper-independent and guarded, but at night, they’re guarded by the internal security of sleeping in the vulnerable, close stomach position.
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Whether it’s a symptom of lingering, unresolved childhood trauma or coping with emotional insecurity during the day, people who sleep on their stomachs usually share this desire for control. They want to feel “in control of” their emotions and grounded, even while dealing with a kind of unpredictability during the day.
While there may be some physical ailments and stressors that erupt from consistently sleeping on your stomach, like neurologist G. Peter Gliebus explains, on an emotional level, sleeping on your stomach could be a means of craving control — even if it’s nearly subconscious.
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Although people who sleep on their stomachs tend to value a feeling of security and are often warm and welcoming on the inside, they may come off as colder or guarded externally.
Stomach sleepers often share these interesting personality quirks because their sleeping preferences and coping mechanisms at home are not a mirror for the way they act and are perceived outside.
They know how to self-soothe at home, but they rarely rely on other people in their daily lives to comfort or emotionally support them — even if they yearn for these connections on a subconscious level.
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A stomach sleeper’s sense of internal groundedness at home and hyper-independence often transforms into a kind of unshakeable strength. They know they can take care of themselves, even if it means self-soothing at night with a chosen sleeping position when things get emotionally chaotic during the day.
They take shelter, however it manifests itself, to protect themselves. For some, that means relying on the support of their loved ones or seeking out resources to cope with internal disarray. For others, it’s finding safety and vulnerability by sleeping on their stomach every night.
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People who sleep on their stomachs usually share an appreciation of physical touch, but only on their own terms. According to a study published in Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology, this kind of positive self-touch — like lying on your stomach and “hugging” yourself or a pillow — can reduce the heightened cortisol levels that are typically associated with stress.
They reduce their stress levels and self-soothe by relying on this kind of closeness and self-touch with their sleeping position, even if they don’t appreciate a handshake with a stranger or a hug with a friend in reality, all of the time.
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According to a 2021 study, people with consistent, regular bedtime routines tend to have a higher level of sleep quality and duration every night. Whether it’s sleeping with a fan blowing on their face or sleeping on their stomach, it’s these rituals and routines that serve as a “cue” for their brain to rest and unwind.
They appreciate the stability of a routine and the predictability of following it every single day, but it may also provide some consistent emotional comfort that they lack or avoid during their waking hours.
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Considering strong gut instincts and a sense of intuition often play a role in a person’s “impulsivity,” it’s no surprise that people who sleep on their stomachs usually share these interesting personality quirks.
They have a deep sense of knowing in their bodies, so even if choosing to sleep on their stomach is largely subconscious, it’s their intuition guiding their physical bodies to a place of internal security and emotional stability at night.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a senior editorial strategist with a bachelor’s degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.
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