South Pillow, North Pillow

Good morning. I wanted to write a blog post because I've had a few mysterious experiences. I've always really liked sleeping with my head pointing south, but whenever I'm feeling under the weather, I naturally end up sleeping with my head pointing north. When that happens, it's usually unconscious, and I often only realize it later when I check. I'd noticed this pattern in my behavior for a while, and it happened again yesterday.

Lately, I've felt my sleep has been a bit short for me, usually around five hours. Since I felt it was insufficient, I've been trying to compensate by taking short naps during the day, but proper sleep at a fixed time at night is always better. However, there have been many days when I would wake up after just over or just under five hours.

My work has been demanding recently, with a lot of intellectually strenuous tasks. You know the brain and spinal cord are connected – I believe it's the brainstem. I've felt a lot of stress in that root-like area where they connect. With more computers around, I tend to adopt a posture where I'm peering down. I keep telling myself I need to be careful, but I often end up working with my head in a position that feels like it's about to drop.

Then, either yesterday or the day before, I moved my body a bit. Because I needed to prepare choreography for my Golden Week holiday classes, I started to move slightly. I began to feel a strange discomfort in my back. It felt like I might have pulled something as I moved after being in a bad posture for some time – a strange inflammatory sensation, like a minor muscle strain or some torn fibers. I thought I could manage it in two days, but deep down, I was wondering if I would be okay by the next class.

Observing my pain, which had spread quite widely, I gradually started to feel uneasy, thinking it was different from usual, almost like the pain was coming from my internal organs. Since I knew the likely cause, I kept telling myself it wasn't that. Anyway, I ended up with significant pain on my entire left side, so I figured there was no point in doing much and decided to just go to sleep.

I usually sleep with my head pointing south as mentioned above, but tonight, almost intuitively and unconsciously, sleeping with my head pointing north felt like it would be more comfortable.

Considering the Earth's magnetic field supposedly flows from south to north, one might think that sleeping with your head pointing north would align with this flow. However, which direction is better is really just a matter of personal preference and has absolutely no scientific basis. And speaking of directions, get this: in Japan, the north is traditionally the direction in which the deceased are placed or have their head pointed during the wake or funeral ceremonies. This is why it's generally considered unlucky by some.

I think I probably went to bed around eight o'clock. Then, I believe I slept for almost ten hours. It felt like my body forcibly shut down and made me rest. When I woke up this morning, I was worried it would be worse, but it's improving, so that's good.