6/8 Heart
When I was young I had a bunk bed, I cant really remember if my brother was sleeping under me or if it was my own. Anyway, I started to get ongoing nightmares about monsters chasing me. One day, as I was telling my brother about my nightmares, he said:- That's because you're sleeping on the left side.
- What do you mean? I said.
- If you sleep on your left bodyside (on your heart) you will get nightmares, sleep on your right!
I thought about it and I had actually been sleeping on my left side, faced towards the wall, during the nights I had bad dreams. So I changed side and swooosh, My daily nightmares had stopped. Ever since then I've had a problem sleeping on my left side, it feels wrong!
Last semester I was writing an essay about a condition called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. It is basically vertigo, a specific type of dizziness, that affects a person in a specific area of the inner-ear. It is a condition that should be fairly easy to treat; however some people may be affected worse than others - resulting in strong sensations of vertigo (dizziness), affecting their balance.
Anyway, as I was reading about the condition I found a very interesting line:
- Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) often affects people's right ear, due to the majority of people tend to sleep on their right side.
After reading that line, I started to try switching sleeping positions: such as lying on my back (which is a position I find particularly hard to fall asleep in) or even rolling over to my left side. With no success I returned to my normal position: sleeping on my right side. I just couldn't stand the feeling of my beating heart when lying on my left side. It feels as if I am about to crush it, or reducing its ability to pump blood to my body. The thought of getting vertigo at a later stage in life was less important than trying to avoid sleeping on my left side.
However, a few days ago I found myself waking up sleeping on my left side. Apparently, I had found an angle as I was sleeping that took away the nasty feeling of my beating heart. So I started to experiment once again. The next night I tried to fall asleep on my left side, and as far as I can remember - it worked!
But then, as I was sleeping on my left side, a nightmare appeared. It was a real nightmare, but it felt as if I wasn't as scared as I was supposed to be. Maybe I am more mature now and scary monsters doesn't frighten me that much anymore. Or maybe it was a warning from the "sleeping Gods", letting me know that I shall not sleep on my left side. Whatever its purpose for haunting me in my sleep, it sure had an impact on my sleeping behaviours. I haven't had a nightmare since.. well, I can't even recall for how long.. But years, years my friends! It haunted me then & it haunts me today, making sure I do not sleep on my left side.
So today I am sleeping on my right side again. Trying to do everything in my awakenen (is that even a word?) power not to fall asleep on my left side.
The purpose of this post is to touch the thought that everything, whatever its size, that has happend to us in our lifetime - forms the way we are today. Our minds and bodies are brilliant masterpieces, formed through years of evolution (or religious beliefs), which functions may not always be clear to us, but oh so fascinating.
Are you a person who's sleeping on your left side? Think about it...
