There's almost an unspoken mutual agreement between couples about which side of the bed they each sleep on, right?
It's a non-negotiable, don't even need to discuss, hop into bed (any bed, anywhere) and resume-normal-snoozing-type agreement. But why?
Is it about who's closest to the bathroom? Who gets up first? Who sleeps closest to the door or who has the best ninja skills? Or is it about making sure you literally don't wake up on the wrong side of the bed?
New research has confirmed that 9 out of 10 Australians have a particular side of the bed that they sleep on each night.
But even more interestingly, women have an affinity for the left-hand side of the bed, with more than half (55%) of women in Australia demanding the left hand side, according to leading Aussie mattress brand, Koala, in their State of Sleep Research findings.
Only 5 per cent or 1 in 20 women don't have a preference, while for men, they're much more flexi with where they sleep. Almost three times as many (1 in 7) don't have a preference.
Body+Soul's sleep expert Olivia Arezzolo says while research is limited on sleeping preferences, there are certain anecdotal correlations between gender and which side you sleep on.
So why do women like the left? "It could come down to what side you prefer to lay on, and if you want to face your partner or not," Arezzolo says.
"If you sleep on the left side of the bed and on your right side of your body, you allow yourself to be cuddled, aka the little spoon."
"This often makes us feel protected, comforted, and close to our partner."
(It turns out most people are both right-handed, so we tend to sleep on the right, the side of our dominant arms.) Interesting, huh?
The State of Sleep Research (which also found 1 in 4 Aussies drool in their sleep too, ick) was released to celebrate the launch of Koala's three brand spanking new mattresses, disrupting the industry all over again, six years after they released their game-changing mattress-in-a-box concept.
The Aussie company dreamed up by two childhood mates from Byron Bay have received over 25,000 5-star reviews since releasing Australia's most loved mattress in 2015. These three fully-customisable replace the original, which has been given an upgrade.
“We wanted to create a new customisable mattress range for everyone. And I think we outdid ourselves with three mattresses that highlights our dedication to creating products that have a minimal impact on the environment,” said Mitch Taylor, Koala CEO and Co-Founder.
"We listened to customer feedback, and applied it directly to our new designs - and clearly we need to get more Aussies sleeping better, our national sleep deficit is pretty bloody scary”
Koala also found as a nation, we have a sleep deficit of 5.7 billion hours - that's billions of extra hours we should be luxuriating in snooze town.
"On average each individual has a 5.57 hour sleep deficit per week, which represents the gap between the sleep they actually get and the sleep they think they need.
It adds up to a whopping 309.5 hours a year.
Arezzolo says focus instead on getting a full night's sleep in a comfy bed, whether you're big spoon, little spoon or solo spoon is much more important than getting hung up on sides.
"The amount of sleep you need depends on your age, sleep debt and chronotype", she said. "Overall though, most adults need between 7-9 hours."
If you want to know more about the three new mattress, the new OG Koala Mattress, the new Koala Calm As or the rolls royce Koala Soul Mate you can check them out here. If you live in a metro area, they're delivered free to your door in four hours with a risk-free 120-night trial. Prices start at $780 and go up to $2950 the bigger and fancier you get, no matter which side of the bed you snooze on.
