Sleeping Positions - ...what does yours say about you?

Palomar · 2003-09-16 09:21:29

*I'm the "free-fall, flat on tummy" person, although frequently I will awaken in the "starfish" position.

I've read a similar report to this, years ago.

Also, has anyone fallen out of bed since becoming an adult? I have. Dreamed I was bending down to give a treat to a dog, and next thing I know I'm thumping onto the floor.

--Cindy

Byron · 2003-09-16 09:49:59

As with just about anything else that claims to speak about your personality, I'm the odd man out here. You try figuring out my personality, you're not going to get very far...lol. Although I usually sleep on my side, the arms go in different places. Other times, I'll switch to the "freefall" and the "starfish" positions...I only use the fetal position in the middle of the winter when it gets cold (the 3 nights a year it does get freezing cold down here.)

Can't recall ever actually falling out of bed, however...

B

Josh Cryer · 2003-09-16 13:00:55

This BBC link might be a little more interesting (pictures, better explainations, etc).

I find that I usually sleep in the fetal position, but I really do alternate between that, the soldier position, and the starfish position! I can get comfortable in any of those positions.

Palomar · 2003-09-16 13:45:34

This BBC link might be a little more interesting (pictures, better explainations, etc).
I find that I usually sleep in the fetal position, but I really do alternate between that, the soldier position, and the starfish position! I can get comfortable in any of those positions.

*Hey Josh, the link you provided is much better...especially with illustrations.

My hubby favors the "Log" position. Yep, that's him.

--Cindy

Pat Galea · 2003-09-16 16:07:56

Ooh, what a strange thing to think about!

I think I do all of them in one night, except for Starfish, which doesn't look good for sleeping (though it seems ideal for - ah-hem - other purposes... and now I've started on this track, I'm definitely not gonna discuss Freefaller ).

dicktice · 2003-09-16 17:18:23

Re. Sleeping positions; Where in the World do you all get those names for the positions you sleep in...? My preference would have to be the "Weightless" position, next to a viewport facing Earth. in the ISS!

Pat Galea · 2003-09-17 00:47:38

Re. Sleeping positions; Where in the World do you all get those names for the positions you sleep in...?

From the BBC article linked above. (We didn't just make up all this nonsense ourselves! :;): )

My preference would have to be the "Weightless" position, next to a viewport facing Earth. in the ISS!

WHAT??? Heretic! Don't ya know this is a Mars Society board?

alokmohan · 2003-09-17 03:56:01

once I fell down along with mosquito curtain.The later was not injured.

clark · 2003-09-17 08:04:08

I sleep in a prone position.

Byron · 2003-09-17 09:17:04

I sleep in a prone position.

Hahaha..that's a good one, clark

B

Shaun Barrett · 2003-09-17 19:58:01

Not that I can imagine anyone being interested (if you are .. get a life! ), but here goes.
I start out in Starfish but spend most of my time, I think, in the Foetus position.
Strangely (and this may have something to do with my liking for good wines), I sometimes spend short periods in a modified form of the Freefall position. i.e. just like the picture at the BBC site but with the left arm behind my back and the right knee bent at about 90 degrees. ... Huh? .. Yeah, I know that's the Recovery position for the unconscious or the comatose! Waddya think I'm talking about here?!!!
:laugh:

Palomar · 2003-09-18 05:55:09

Shaun: "Strangely (and this may have something to do with my liking for good wines), I sometimes spend short periods in a modified form of the Freefall position. i.e. just like the picture at the BBC site but with the left arm behind my back and the right knee bent at about 90 degrees. ..."

*My husband sometimes sleeps with an arm behind his back (sans previous wine imbibing). I don't know how anyone can sleep like that!

Shaun: "Huh? .. Yeah, I know that's the Recovery position for the unconscious or the comatose! Waddya think I'm talking about here?!!!"

*The Hangover Sleeping Position? :laugh:

--Cindy

dicktice · 2003-09-19 06:47:57

Cindy: I should have said . . . in the ISS, waitin' for the next Mars Express--okay?

Palomar · 2003-09-19 13:29:19

Cindy: I should have said . . . in the ISS, waitin' for the next Mars Express--okay?

*Sure dicktice...no problem!

I have wondered, however, how anyone can sleep in zero gravity. I mean we're all used to laying flat against something, having pillows or blankets around us, etc.

I've seen video of the shuttle astronauts sleeping (or rather, emerging from after sleeping) in narrow (but long, of course) compartments. It seems they have some strapping devices they use to place across their chests waists, and legs, to assist with "keeping put" in one spot. But maybe I dreamed all that... I'm pretty sure I saw that.

But maybe sleeping in zero G is like floating in water. Now that might not be so bad.

--Cindy

Byron · 2003-09-19 13:49:10

But maybe sleeping in zero G is like floating in water. Now that might not be so bad.

I would kill for a chance to sleep in free fall just to see what it's like. I imagine it would be a pretty restful sleep..unless your arm starts drifting around and bops you in the head!...

I hear astronants have a hard time getting more than six hours a night in the Shuttle or ISS, although their bodies still require the same amount of sleep they're used to on Earth. That's why people on long-term space missions rarely perform to expectations of mission planners on the ground. To me, having long-term missions in zero-gravity environments don't make a lot of sense, becuase of health reasons, etc. If people are going to live in space, they really need to have at least a little gravity, maybe lunar equivalent or whatever.

I've also heard that certain "extracurricular" activities are almost impossible in free fall, as the participants keep drifting apart from each other...lol... :;): :laugh:

B

Pat Galea · 2003-09-19 14:14:51

I would kill for a chance to sleep in free fall just to see what it's like. I imagine it would be a pretty restful sleep..unless your arm starts drifting around and bops you in the head!...
I hear astronants have a hard time getting more than six hours a night in the Shuttle or ISS, although their bodies still require the same amount of sleep they're used to on Earth.

From what I've read, the effect of zero-g on the human body is very much like having a head cold (because of all the fluids 'collecting' in the upper body). Probably feels a bit like lying down with your head slightly lower than your feet.

I'd imagine that this might have something to do with the lack of sleep.

dicktice · 2003-09-20 07:23:59

Cindy: Melatonin taken an hour before "sacktime," should induce natural sleep, whenever desired. I've always imagined, clipping (or velcro-ing) the ends of your individual crew "sleep-sacks" to any available bulkhead-of-choice, to keep from drifting about while you sleep. Wrapping the overlapping edges of the sack about you could be the weightless equivalent of tucking yourself in, to keep out drafts--like a cocoon? Cocoons-for-two would solve the other problem you mention, that of drifting apart inconveniently at certain times.

Palomar · 2003-09-20 07:57:27

Dicktice: "Cindy: I've always imagined, clipping (or velcro-ing) the ends of individual crew "sleep-sacks" to any available bulkhead-of-choice to keep from drifting about, and wrapping the overlapping edges of the sack about you (the weightless equivalent of tucking yourself in) to keep out drafts. Something like a cocoon, eh?"

*This makes sense. It would prevent repeated floating/drifting into bulk heads or instrument panels, which would be constantly reawakening the snoozing astronaut. Also keeps limbs secure.

Dicktice: "Cocoons-for-two should solve the other problem you alude to: of inconvenient drifting apart."

*Erm...actually, BYRON alluded to that (not me). Tsk, tsk Byron.

Dicktice: "Melatonin taken an hour before "sacktime," should induce natural sleep, whenever desired."

*Good point.

--Cindy

Spider-Man · 2003-09-20 09:37:49

Ach, darn those Britons... again with the spelling changes!
Pardon the following rant...

The BBC link, kindly provided by Josh, contained the spelling "Foetus". Now, I read the BBC all the time, and have been privy to some pretty wacky spellings and coloquial terminology, but this one just threw me for a proverbial loop.

"Foetus??" I read, aghast, unable to make anything of the improprietous 'o' which glared out at me from the screen. "Where did this come from?" I figured it might be some archaic Latin spelling... only to discover, having examined all my Roman language texts most thoroughly, that there never was any appearance of "foetus", ever.

And then I went to Webster, to see if French or Norman or Middle English messed it up. But no:

Main Entry: fe?tus
Pronunciation: 'fE-t&s
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin, act of bearing young, offspring; akin to Latin fetus newly delivered, fruitful -- more at FEMININE
Date: 14th century
: an unborn or unhatched vertebrate especially after attaining the basic structural plan of its kind; specifically : a developing human from usually three months after conception to birth

The spelling hasn't changed since the Kings of Rome, and was "fetus" all the way through Shakespeare's era of Middle English. Then I found this at Webster:

Main Entry: foe?tal, foe?tus
chiefly British variant ofFETAL, FETUS

What the heck? So, some time in the last four hundred years, for no appearant reason, the Britons deliberately changed the spelling? For what purpose?
Clearly, to differentiate themselves from us. Let it not be forgotten that it was not Webster and the first American dictionarians who altered Enlgish just "to be different" from the Mother Country ? it clearly was quite the opposite. Thank heavens Webster gave us the true, original Latin, and not these ungodly, cumbersome spellings!

This concludes my linguistic rant.

As for sleep, none of those positions match me or my personality, it seems. I sleep in the fetus (thank you very much, Ancient Romans) position typically, usually hugging a pillow and lying on one side or the other. As for my personality, sensitive has been described of me often, and I am also quite shy (to an agonizing extreme), but I'm not necessarily "tough" on the outside. I am gregarious, love people and social interaction (making my shyness all the more painful), et cetera, but my sleeping profile doesn't seem to match that.

I've also heard that certain "extracurricular" activities are almost impossible in free fall, as the participants keep drifting apart from each other...lol

Heh, well, Byron, actually they tested that a couple years ago, I heard (it wasn't in the flight plan, so the NASA people were a tad irate when they found out). Heck, I think we'd all like to give it a try though.

And this is my hundreth post! Yay, I'm no longer just a temp; it looks like I'm here to stay.

Palomar · 2003-09-20 09:55:17

Ach, darn those Britons... again with the spelling changes!
Pardon the following rant...
The BBC link, kindly provided by Josh, contained the spelling "Foetus". Now, I read the BBC all the time, and have been privy to some pretty wacky spellings and coloquial terminology, but this one just threw me for a proverbial loop.
"Foetus??" I read, aghast, unable to make anything of the improprietous 'o' which glared out at me from the screen. "Where did this come from?" I figured it might be some archaic Latin spelling... only to discover, having examined all my Roman language texts most thoroughly, that there never was any appearance of "foetus", ever.

*Wow, I'm surprised it's the first time you've seen that alternate spelling.

For what it's worth (since we're going in this direction):

The Brits also spell orthopedic as "orthopaedic"

hemorrhage as "haemorrhage"

maneuver as "manoeuver" (correct me, someone, if I'm not recalling this specific example right)

...and of course we know they LOVE to put "u" in everything from "colour" to "neighbour", etc. :;):

Yes, my English friends and ancestors (roughly 1/4 of my ancestry is English) certainly have a penchant for silent vowels...and sometimes consonants. Can anyone explain "knife"? It's not pronounced "kuh-ny-fee"...what's up with the "k" and the "e" then? Spell it "nyf," for crying out loud. :laugh:

Oh, and my favorite (albeit old and outdated): "Gaol" and "gaoler". What's that? Jail and jailer.

We also get our word "faggot" from the Brits, but it originally had a VERY different meaning than what we moderns ascribe to it: Hundreds of years ago it's what kindling wood was called, usually ala burning heretics at the stake. Yipes.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: Just now recalled that America's Founding Fathers, who of course were originally British citizens, substituted "s" for "f" when found in the middle of a word. For instance, if you look at a copy of the founding documents, you'll see the word "President" written as "Prefident." No kidding. It seems they used "s" as we use it -only- at the beginning and ending of words; for an "s" elsewhere in the word as we know it today, an "f" was used. It's quite a challenge to read the old English style, but is definitely worth the effort.

Pat Galea · 2003-09-20 10:51:12

...and of course we know they LOVE to put "u" in everything from "colour" to "neighbour", etc. :;):

Hey, what's with all the Brit bashing today? :;):

Oh, and my favorite (albeit old and outdated): "Gaol" and "gaoler". What's that? Jail and jailer.

Heh... I doubt that many Brits under 40 would even recognise the word 'gaol' any more. They'd probably think it meant "strong wind".

Another one that amuses me is that Americans refer to the "British billion", meaning a million million. But we haven't used that for ages. Since before I was born, a billion here has been a thousand million, just like in the USA.

We also get our word "faggot" from the Brits, but it originally had a VERY different meaning than what we moderns ascribe to it:

And "faggots" here are a kind of meatball. I recall once eating lunch in a pub, and the girl was bringing out the food for a nearby table. "Faggots?" she called out, and a table full of Americans looked utterly stunned! Maybe they thought she was identifying the customers by their sexual orientation. :laugh:

::EDIT:: Just now recalled that America's Founding Fathers, who of course were originally British citizens, substituted "s" for "f" when found in the middle of a word. For instance, if you look at a copy of the founding documents, you'll see the word "President" written as "Prefident." No kidding. It seems they used "s" as we use it -only- at the beginning and ending of words; for an "s" elsewhere in the word as we know it today, an "f" was used. It's quite a challenge to read the old English style, but is definitely worth the effort.

Ah, but it's not really an 'f' though. More of an elongated 's', a bit like the integral calculus symbol.

Anyway, I'll have a chance to observe some American nuances when I am back in the USA next week. Woo-Hoo!!!

Spider-Man · 2003-09-20 13:21:41

The Brits also spell orthopedic as "orthopaedic"

Well, that one is slightly justified, since the Greek for "child" is paid; in addition, "orthopaedic" is an alternate American spelling as well.

hemorrhage as "haemorrhage"

Though "haemorrhage" isn't technically a word in English, it is much closer to the Latin spelling, haemorrhagia.

maneuver as "manoeuver" (correct me, someone, if I'm not recalling this specific example right)

Yup, manoevre, actually, or sometimes with the emphasized diphthong man?vre, which is directly from the French.

...and of course we know they LOVE to put "u" in everything from "colour" to "neighbour", etc.

Yes, I'm bringing this up from another thread where I noted how most of those 'u's are not justified. "Honor", for instance, was never spelled with a 'u' until after America was colonized. It's been "honor" through Middle English, Old French, and the original Latin. The Britons invented that one to be different (rather kind of them to leave us the better, more classical spelling?it makes us all the more Roman).
But there are words, like "colour", which retain the 'u' from Middle English, from Old French. However, the original Latin was still color. I think that reversion to the Roman spelling is quite reasonable.

Yes, my English friends and ancestors (roughly 1/4 of my ancestry is English) certainly have a penchant for silent vowels...and sometimes consonants. Can anyone explain "knife"? It's not pronounced "kuh-ny-fee"...what's up with the "k" and the "e" then? Spell it "nyf," for crying out loud.

Hehe, you never cease to be endearing.

Oh, and my favorite (albeit old and outdated): "Gaol" and "gaoler". What's that? Jail and jailer.

Wow, that's an ancient one; I'd never heard of it before.

::EDIT:: Just now recalled that America's Founding Fathers, who of course were originally British citizens, substituted "s" for "f" when found in the middle of a word. For instance, if you look at a copy of the founding documents, you'll see the word "President" written as "Prefident." No kidding. It seems they used "s" as we use it -only- at the beginning and ending of words; for an "s" elsewhere in the word as we know it today, an "f" was used. It's quite a challenge to read the old English style, but is definitely worth the effort.

As Pat mentioned, that's not actually an 'f', but indeed a stylized, caligraphic 's' (you can compare it to their lowecase 'f's, which have a sublinear loop that tilts forward, as opposed to the 's' which goes backward...kind of like the difference between a cursive 'q' and 'g'). It's tiny, but you can make it out:

http://www.archives.gov/exhibit....ing.jpg

You can also see that two 's's together would have one being the larger version, the other the standard; kinda confusing.

Before World War II, the official German font had all its 's's in that elongated, 'f'-looking style; in fact, original German texts from prior to that period are ungodly difficult to read, because the type is steeped in such stylization to the point of incomprehensibility. One of Hitler's acts when he took control was to completely reform the official texts and missives with a new font of his own design, one that was military and clear and understandable.
You know the hideously ugly, austere, cold, unpleasant font known to us as Geneva? We can thank Hitler for that.

Shaun Barrett · 2003-09-21 06:34:56

I think you just tend to use words in the way they were taught when you were in school.
To me, the words are:-

Foetus (I imagined this owed something to Greek, not Latin?)
Haemorrhage
Orthopaedic
Paedophilia (When I was a child, our family reference library, such as it was, included an Encyclopaedia .. ! This spelling was engraved on the cover.)
Manoeuvre (From the French)
Honour and Colour (Again the French words have a 'u'.)
Knife (The French for penknife is 'canif'.)
Metre (From the French again. A 'metre' is a unit of distance. A 'meter' is something you measure something with, like a 'thermometer' or 'ammeter'.)
Tyre (For your car. 'Tire' is what happens to you when you wade through the kind of boring cr** I'm writing here! )

Incidentally, I still feel quite daring leaving the 'e' out of 'judgement'!! As in "Terminator 2. Judgment Day."

SpiderMan, I'm not sure that the highly stylized 'f', as it has been called here, did in fact disappear from German altogether after Hitler. Our German Master in grammar school taught us the 'estset' (as it is known in German) as part of our studies.
It is indeed a substitute 's', as Pat rightly points out, and not an 'f'. At one stage, I knew the rules governing its use in German spelling but, alas, despite dear old Mr. Billington's best efforts, most of the ponderous rules of German grammar have since escaped me! (Actually he was affectionately known to us pupils as 'Basher Billington' because of his tendency to inculcate the mysteries of the German language into a boy's memory by means of a swift and firm application of the edge of a text-book to the base of the boy's skull!! I kid you not.)

So, if I use what appears to be antiquated spelling, and it irritates anyone, I apologise and hope the sufferer can summon the patience to humour me!!!
:laugh:

I won't labour the point any further!

Palomar · 2003-09-21 07:50:10

I think you just tend to use words in the way they were taught when you were in school.

So, if I use what appears to be antiquated spelling, and it irritates anyone, I apologise and hope the sufferer can summon the patience to humour me!!!
:laugh:
I won't labour the point any further!

*Oh no, I enjoy the little differences.

For my part, though (besides spelling as I've been taught), the American style is much more practical; all the vowels we have dropped from the original words are that many less "unnecessary" keystrokes in a day's work...and it sure adds up (oh my aching wrists)!

--Cindy

Byron · 2003-09-21 08:17:25

*Oh no, I enjoy the little differences.
For my part, though (besides spelling as I've been taught), the American style is much more practical; all the vowels we have dropped from the original words are that many less "unnecessary" keystrokes in a day's work...and it sure adds up (oh my aching wrists)!
--Cindy

Me too...while I find the British spellings interesting, I'm quite glad to be doing things the American way (this country is good for a few things, anyhow..lol )

I'm actually a big fan of evolving linguistics...languages change over time, as they should. Like for instance, the extremely misleading word "inflammable" which once meant what "flammable" means today. It just didn't make any sense to have a misleading word as dangerous as that...lol...can you imagine gasoline trucks labeled "inflammable" instead of "flammable?"

I look forward to the day when we fix some of the nonsense spellings we still have in American English, like cigaret instead of cigarette, plow instead of plough (already in common usage), the plural term indexes instead of the confusing indicies, among countless others. I take pride in doing whatever I can to spur on these linguistic changes, such as making up words and trying to get other people to use them, like saying "cold wave" instead of "cold snap" (I've always hated that stupid term..lol.)

It's amazing how much of difference a handful of people can make in a language if it makes sense and catches on with the general public...

B

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Re: Sleeping Positions - ...what does yours say about you?

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