I’m a body language expert – how you sleep reveals if your relationship is relaxed or one of you is dominating | The Sun

DO you sleep curled up against your partner's back, enclosed safely in their arms, or all the way on the opposite side of the bed?

How you sleep as a couple may indicate how you feel about your spouse, body language experts said.

Even when you're asleep, your body language communicates messages that you might be unable or unwilling to communicate verbally, experts told the team at Little Things.

Some positions even indicate the opposite of what you'd assume: curling up close together doesn't always reflect a healthy romance, while scooting to separate edges of the bed doesn't spell divorce.

A common position for cuddling, the spoon position isn't a common one during sleep, the experts said – a 2012 study by Dr Corrine Sweet indicates only 18 percent of people sleep while spooning.

But if you do fall asleep in a spoon position, you probably have a good balance of intimacy and excitement in your relationship, one expert suggested.

"It's a very vulnerable position that's sexual, but says, 'I trust you,'" said Patti Wood, author of Success Signals: A Guide to Reading Body Language.

Longer-term couples might sleep in a variation on the position, which is indicative of a steadier connection. The loose spoons position sees a much wider gap, and sometimes no physical contact, between the two parties.

Wood said the position is less erotic – it's usually favored by couples who value sleep quality over their quantity of sexual encounters – but it still sends a clear message of trust and reliability.

On the other hand, if one partner edges to their side of the bed but still wakes up with their "big spoon" clinging to their back or limbs, it can spell trouble, the experts warned.

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The position is widely known as "the chase," but Samuel Dunkell, author of Sleep Positions: The Night Language of the Body, described the position as "illegal spooning."

Regardless of what you call it, this position may represent some disconnect between the partners.

Dunkell said the person being "chased" across the bed might feel crowded and want to retreat. The other partner, making an unconscious pursuit, could feel lonely or shut out.

Depending on the relationship, this position could also reflect a partner who plays hard to get, and wants to be chased or "won" by their spouse.

Couples who sleep totally tangled up in each other should also have a frank, honest conversation about their romantic dynamics.

Wrapped arm-in-arm and leg-in-leg, couples who sleep in this position might be brand-new to dating, still caught up in the honeymoon phase and falling asleep right after sex.

Elizabeth Flynn-Campbell, a New York psychotherapist, warned couples who sleep in the tangle position could also be "overly enmeshed, too dependent on each other to sleep apart."

But if that tangle "unravels" overnight, with both halves of the couple falling away from each other as they drift off to sleep, it reflects a strong, healthy connection with room for independence.

Sleeping back-to-back can also have many meanings, depending on how much couples touch. Dr Sweet said that couples who let their backs "kiss" while they sleep "are comfortable, intimate, and relaxed with each other."

But it's not as strong a connection as the liberty lovers who sleep on opposite ends of the bed, with no touching at all.

"This couple feel connected whilst independent enough to sleep separately," Dr Sweet explained.

Even though the position may seem less romantic, it actually shows the greatest deal of trust, she said.

It's also an indicator of self-confidence on an individual level. Couples who identify as liberty lovers don't see any need to impose their own sleeping styles on others, which might be the reason this position is so prevalent, especially for mature couples who have been together many years.

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