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Does anyone else know if they’re lying the ‘wrong’ way round?

83 replies

Roseyposeypie · 16/02/2026 23:09

Okay, so this is going to sound weird but if I’m away from home as soon as I lie down in the bed to go to sleep I can tell if it’s positioned in a different orientation to my bed at home. For example last night I was in an Airbnb and I just knew that if I was at home the bed would be turned 90 degrees in one direction. My husband checked a compass on his phone and I was right. This isn’t a one off, it happens to me everywhere I sleep that isn’t home. It doesn’t stop me sleeping but it feels ‘wrong’. Does anyone else have this or is it just me me?

OP posts:
placemats · 16/02/2026 23:59

I totally get that. The last hotel room I stayed in, the bed was exactly aligned as mine and I slept so well for two nights.

Goldenmare · 16/02/2026 23:56

Nuncheon · 16/02/2026 23:49

My husband thinks it deeply weird that if I’m describing a walk or trying to remember someone’s house in the area she grew up in, I will always say it was ‘east the road’ or ‘west the road’.

This is how people word things in Irish or ScottIsh Gaelic. Do you have Irish or Scottish heritage perhaps?

Goonie1 · 16/02/2026 23:55

Roseyposeypie · 16/02/2026 23:32

I also get the storm headache thing but I never considered that the two might be related.

I’m just thinking it may be to do with being in tune with the environment.

wheresthesnowgone · 16/02/2026 23:50

No, not the bed orientation.

But my husband and I quite often swap sides when we're in a bed away from home.

Nuncheon · 16/02/2026 23:49

Tangit · 16/02/2026 23:44

I have this too - I thought I was the only weirdo 😂. And I always know which way north is, the direction of places etc

My husband thinks it deeply weird that if I’m describing a walk or trying to remember someone’s house in the area she grew up in, I will always say it was ‘east the road’ or ‘west the road’.

GarlicBound · 16/02/2026 23:44

No, but I'm well envious! People who live in grid cities, like New York, always know which way is North but I don't, not even if I'm there for weeks and am making the effort to learn.

I have an atrocious sense of direction. I've travelled about a third of the world - and got lost in about a third of the world! I'm good with maps, but need a bloody compass all the time 😬

I am fairly good at anticipating the weather, but I think this is simply from experience - I can hear how sound travels in high/low pressure, feel moisture in the air, smell petrichor, etc. I don't get any weather-related physical symptoms.

Tangit · 16/02/2026 23:44

Roseyposeypie · 16/02/2026 23:21

Oh my goodness, I’m not alone!

I also wondered whether I could be noticing other subtle signs like the sun but last night we arrived in the dark and the room had black out blinds.

LOL to the pigeon comment… that’s what DH said too!

I have this too - I thought I was the only weirdo 😂. And I always know which way north is, the direction of places etc

WaryHiker · 16/02/2026 23:43

I definitely get the headache with the approaching weather change. I'm in a hotel right now and would love to check your bed theory, but sadly the compass direction on Google maps isn't working because I'm inside a big building.

However, I am so grateful for this thread because, being the idiot I am, I had no idea until I searched just now that you could pull up a compass on Google maps!

I am always frustrated when I get directions to walk somewhere and it says head south on X Street and I have no idea which way is south. I was talking about this to my daughter only yesterday and we were both saying that most people must be born with an innate sense of direction, and it's just us that can't do it.

So, thanks to this thread, I will no longer be frustrated by that part of navigating around new cities!

HellonHeels · 16/02/2026 23:35

Roseyposeypie · 16/02/2026 23:32

I also get the storm headache thing but I never considered that the two might be related.

Not only a compass, also a barometer!

Roseyposeypie · 16/02/2026 23:32

Goonie1 · 16/02/2026 23:28

I have this. It makes me feel like I’m lying upside down as in my feet are higher than my head. Im
obviously not but that’s the sensation I get.
I also get a terrible headache when a storm
is coming or if there was a sudden change to the weather. My mum called me the weather lady. I think it’s to do with the air pressure. I wonder if the 2 are connected in any way.

I also get the storm headache thing but I never considered that the two might be related.

OP posts:
Shitmonger · 16/02/2026 23:31

Me too! I prefer the head of my bed to face north and can always tell when it doesn’t.

Goonie1 · 16/02/2026 23:28

I have this. It makes me feel like I’m lying upside down as in my feet are higher than my head. Im
obviously not but that’s the sensation I get.
I also get a terrible headache when a storm
is coming or if there was a sudden change to the weather. My mum called me the weather lady. I think it’s to do with the air pressure. I wonder if the 2 are connected in any way.

Nuncheon · 16/02/2026 23:26

Absolutely. It’s one of the reasons I always sleep poorly my first night somewhere. I’m dreadful at distinguishing left and right, but have a good sense of compass direction.

nondrinker1985 · 16/02/2026 23:24

Yes!!

Muffsies · 16/02/2026 23:24

Can tell which way around i am, but it doesn't bother me if i sleep in a different direction, as long as i'm on the side of the bed that's furthest from the door. I think most people know their orientation if they stop to think about it.

ElizabethFryIsSpinning · 16/02/2026 23:22

You've got a lodestone in your head, me and my sister are good at directions and think we've got one each . Our dad was a navigator so must be genetic ,

Roseyposeypie · 16/02/2026 23:21

Oh my goodness, I’m not alone!

I also wondered whether I could be noticing other subtle signs like the sun but last night we arrived in the dark and the room had black out blinds.

LOL to the pigeon comment… that’s what DH said too!

OP posts:
TansySorrel · 16/02/2026 23:21

BertieBotts · 16/02/2026 23:19

What? No. I am famously terrible with my sense of direction, though.

I've got a terrible sense of direction too (and don't have the bed/compass thing)

TakeALookAtTheseSwatches · 16/02/2026 23:20

No but I don't like it if the door is in a different position in relation to me

BertieBotts · 16/02/2026 23:19

What? No. I am famously terrible with my sense of direction, though.

ScrambledEggs12 · 16/02/2026 23:18

I think for me it's more about where the window is in the room.

ColdAsAWitches · 16/02/2026 23:17

I have a very good internal compass. I always know where north is. But sleeping in a different bed doesn't feel wrong in any way.

mumofoneAloneandwell · 16/02/2026 23:17

I didn’t think so but literally now i have thought about it, I can tell that I am in a different position to when i was at a hotel for example

well I think I can 😂

AgentPidge · 16/02/2026 23:16

Are you a pigeon? They have little magnets above their beaks so they can read the earth's magnetic field and know their direction. Actually I have heard of humans being able to do this.

TansySorrel · 16/02/2026 23:16

No I've never had that. It's quite impressive though

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