What is your preferred p.m. pose? Whether it be different variations of your back, side, or stomach, some sleeping positions are better than others for a variety of reasons. Learn the pros and cons of each sleeping position and how they affect your posture and overall health. Thanks to www.braceability.com for this article.
Pros
Congratulations, back sleeper! This sleeping posture is highly recommended and considered the “best” sleeping position by doctors for a variety of reasons. Because you’re not forcing any extra curvature into your back, sleeping on your back balances your body weight, keeps internal organs aligned, and allows your mattress to do its job by supporting the spine. It’s also been found that sleeping on your back helps clear colds and runny noses while also preventing wrinkles. This is because the face is entirely exposed to air all night instead of being squished into a pillow.
Cons
Unfortunately, sleeping on your back has a couple of cons. Sleeping on your back is a common cause of snoring. When you sleep flat on your back, it causes the flesh of your throat to relax and block the airway, which is why snoring occurs during sleep.
Pros
If you’re a side sleeper, you’re not alone! 41% of people sleep on their side or the fetal position. Side sleeping has been found to take stress of the back, preventing neck and back pain. This is because sleeping on your side allows the spine to remain in its normal position throughout the night. Positioning on your side with a pillow between your legs is a great sleeping posture for back pain when sleeping. It’s also important to keep your head in a neutral position, so don’t use more than one or two pillows at once.
Cons
You’re in luck, because there aren’t any serious negative effects of sleeping on your side. Although if you sleep with your arm behind your head, it can restrict blood flow and affect muscles and nerves if you don’t move it throughout the night. Additionally, sleeping with half of your face on a pillow can cause wrinkles because of reduced air exposure to your face.
Pros
There aren’t very many pros to sleeping on your stomach, as it’s the least recommended sleeping position by doctors and medical professionals. The single benefit of sleeping on your stomach is the fact that it reduces snoring and some cases of sleep apnea. If you suffer from snoring, don’t resort to sleeping on your stomach, but your side instead.
Cons
Sleeping on your stomach flattens the natural curve of your spine, which can lead to extreme lower back pain, strains of the neck, and poor posture. Overall, sleeping on your stomach prevents normal alignment of the spine, and the unnatural curvature can cause immense pain and posture concerns. If you must sleep on your stomach for comfortability purposes, we recommend you sleep on a very thin pillow, or none at all in order to maintain a more neutral, balanced position.
Dave C says
Great article Shaz – my a.m. pose is a bit of a messed up combination of all of those! I wonder if our bodies automatically adjust themselves whilst we sleep, regardless of how we start out, to what is best for us? Should we pay attention to the way we lay when we wake – is that our bodies preferred option?