I have begun to notice lately that I can control my dreams to a small extent just by changing the position I sleep in as I toss and turn through the
night. When I lay on my right side, my dreams are mostly pleasant, positive, unexciting, mellow, etc. Things tend to make logical sense. When I switch
to my left side, things get more intense. My dreams start to take on a scary element or situations will become horrifying, violent, much more
emotional in a way. The 'story' of the dream will continue, same people, subjects, topics and imagery but the story changes. When I switch back to
my right side after being on the left, I am suddenly allowed to stop and rest from the horror, violence, etc. Either I have solved the current
problem, or I am able to stop and rest for a moment.
I never would have thought sleep position could affect your dreams if I hadn't seemed to experience it myself. I did
a
quick google search and came up
with many other people asking similar questions on websites like ask.google, or answers.yahoo, wiki.answers, and other question type boards. It seems
many other people are able to experience this low level of dream control, but there arent any serious answers as to why it seems to happen.
This is all purely speculation, but the general consensus is that whole right brain being math, logic, etc and the left brain being art, music,
emotion. It is possible that increased blood flow to each part of the brain helps to influence the mood of the dream. If I had to choose a logical
explanation I suppose I would go with this as well although left brain vs right brain is not that cut and dry. In a normal brain the whole brain works
in concert whether you are doing math problems or listening to music. Just specific areas light up with increased activity compared to the rest.
This is nothing like lucid dreaming, or dream control. It is more like those old goosebumbs books where you choose your own fate. At the bottom of
each page you had two options. When I wake up in the middle of the night I can choose if my dream is boring and needs to be spiced up I lay left. If
the situation is getting out of control and is becoming far too bizarre I lay right.
Has anyone else noticed this? Would anyone be willing to do a small experiment, and take notice of the content and quality of your dreams depending on
which side you choose to sleep on, then report your findings back here? It seems to be a nifty little trick, and possibly a stepping stone towards
true lucid dreaming. I look forward to hearing all your experiences!