Emily McDonaldNeuroscientist + Mindset Coach | CEO & Founder @emonthebrain

The direction you sleep impacts your brain 🧠 #brain #neuroscience #sleep

27 Feb 2025

Watch on YouTube

Short YouTube monologue (Emily McDonald, Feb 2025) describing research that the direction you lie while sleeping influences brain activity, sleep quality, and daytime mood. Reported findings: sleeping north–south is associated with increased delta, theta and alpha energy (brain waves linked to deep sleep and relaxation) and more positive mood; sleeping east–west is associated with more nighttime awakenings and decreased sleep quality. The speaker interprets this as brain-wave sensitivity to Earth’s electromagnetic field and notes that optimal head orientation (north vs. south) may depend on hemisphere. The speaker frames this within "neuroarchitecture."

Questions this video answers

Delta, theta, and alpha.

More awakenings during the night and decreased sleep quality.

Neuroscience fun fact of the day is that the direction that you lay while you're sleeping at night can impact your brain waves and your quality of sleep at night and therefore your mood the next day. Research shows that people who lay in the north south direction while they're sleeping have increased energy of delta, theta and alpha brain waves, and these are brain waves associated with quality deep sleep and relaxation. And this north south bed positioning is also associated with more positive mood states during the day. Now research also shows that people who lay in the east west direction while they're sleeping have more awakenings during the night and decreased quality of sleep. One of conclusions of the study is that our brain waves are sensitive to Earth's electromagnetic field. So whether you should lay facing north or facing south is going to depend on which hemisphere that you live. I'm getting really into this neuro architecture stuff, so stay tuned for more.