Couples who sleep in this position have more sex!

Are you a spooner or a snuggler? Do you fall asleep entwined in your lover’s arms or roll over and limit physical contact to a minimum? And does the way we sleep with our partner influence how much sex we have and our relationship satisfaction? Apparently yes! 

Of all the things we share with our partners the most intimate moments are under the covers and many would argue that the dynamics of a relationship can be analysed based on how a couple sleeps together. Well believe it or not the research has been done and we’re about to reveal which sleeping positions mean you’re more likely to have sex and be satisfied with your relationship! 

One thousand people in relationships were surveyed about how they cosied up to their partner at night. They were asked about sleep quality, their sex lives and their overall relationship satisfaction.

How do most couples sleep?

It turns out both men and women prefer a bit of space when they sleep. The most popular position was where both partners slept on their sides with their backs to each other. 

Second favourite for females and third for men was intimate spooning lying on your side with the man in the big spoon (outside) position. Add a little space and this jumped to the second favourite for men and fourth for women. Spooners were also the most likely to change their position during the night with over a third rolling away from each other during the night. 

Overall women showed a preference for physical contact with their partners but most didn’t like taking the big spoon position. Men weren’t as keen on face-to-face sleeping positions whilst women were more likely to prefer it over facing opposite directions. Men’s least favourite position was lying on their back with their partner curled up and partially on top of them.  

The data also suggested that as relationships mature couples tend to choose more separation for sleeping. In fact after 30 years of marriage, only 6.3% of couples opted to spoon. This could suggest a lack of connection once the honeymoon phase is over but perhaps a good night’s sleep becomes more of a priority as we age. And the research found that 76.5% of couples typically change their positions during the night. 

We’ve talked about the importance of sleep to our health in other blog posts, but restful sleep is also important to our relationship. 96% of people who said they felt well rested were satisfied with their relationship versus 74.5% of those who slept poorly. A lack of sleep can intensify relationship conflict and a separate study found that disagreements tended to become more hostile where couples sleep less than 7 hours a night. 

Which sleep position resulted in more sex?

So the big question is which position made it more likely that couples would have sex? Respondents were asked to rate how much they have sex on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 meaning you have sex every night). It’s not surprising that positions which involved lots of physical contact were linked with having more sex. The winner was couples who sleep facing each other and cuddling with limbs entwined followed by spooning with the man as the big spoon.

Sleep positions are obviously very personal and especially in new relationships it can take a while to work out what’s comfortable for both of you! But you don’t need to wake up a tangle of limbs to prove you are in a loving, passionate relationship but it’s interesting to know that it could influence your sex life. Sweet dreams! 

We’ve created a fun poll so you can share your preferred sleep position and see what other Adult Match Maker members said.