Considering that we spend approximately 33% of our lives sleeping, the position in which we sleep must be important. I have a tendency to sleep on my stomach and often wake up with mild back pain. I feel strain on my lower back when I lay in this position, so I wanted to look into what sleeping positions are good and what sleeping positions are bad to avoid any possible physical pain in the future.
After doing research, I have concluded that sleeping on your back does damage to both your lower back and your neck. Having to turn your head to the side on your pillow causes unnecessary strain on your neck. If you can only sleep on your stomach, it is recommended that you use a soft pillow or no pillow at all in order to avoid putting your neck at an awkward angle. In general, you should avoid sleeping on your back if you are able to sleep in other positions.
In addition to sleeping on your stomach, sleeping on your back can also cause lower back pain. To avoid this back pain, it is recommended you put a pillow below your knees in order to elevate your lower body and facilitate the natural curve of the spine. Sleeping on your back can also cause sleep apnea which is when you periodically stop breathing in your sleep. This causes your sleep to be less sound and restful. On the other hand, I consulted with medicaldaily.com who said that sleeping on your back is the healthiest position. There reasoning is that your head, neck, and spine are all aligned when you sleep flat on your back which results in the least amount of pressure added to your lower back and neck.
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The final position which is recommended by bettersleep.org is sleeping on your side. If you put a pillow in between your legs, it helps diminish lower back and hip pain. Medicaldaily.com ranked sleeping on your side as the second healthiest position to sleep in. Just like sleeping on your back, sleeping on your side does help with pain in the lower back and neck. Unlike sleeping on your back, sleeping on your side also helps to prevent sleep apnea. That being said, there are negatives to sleeping on your side such as wrinkling of the skin. As a matter of fact, sleeping on your left side versus sleeping on your right side can cause a number of different issues. If you sleep on your left side, you can damage internal organs such as your liver, lungs, and stomach. If you sleep on your right side, you can increase heartburn. The positive to sleeping on your left side is it helps limit acid reflux and promotes better blood flow which is why doctors advise pregnant women to sleep on their left side.
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It does not seem that there is a consensus as to which sleeping position is the best. Some doctors believe sleeping on your back is the best method for your back and neck while others believe sleeping on your side is the best way to avoid physical pain while preventing sleep apnea from taking place. Either way is an effective method for sleep as long as you do not position your limbs in an uncomfortable and unnatural way. One thing that is certain is that sleeping on your back is an unhealthy and ineffective way to sleep.
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I am amazed by this article. For some reason I love to keep on my back, and I have never felt any back pain. I don’t know if your sources are biased or credible, because I did find an article mentioning that <a href="http://greatist.com/happiness/best-sleep-positions"sleeping on your back is good for your body.
This is a really interesting topic and something I never considered before. I tend to sleep on my side but don’t always wake up in the same sleep position that I fell asleep in. I tend to move around some so I don’t think I can always control what position that I’m sleeping in. I haven’t noticed a trend before on when this happens but probably the worst thing that I’ve noticed when I wake up is when I wake up with a stiff neck. Waking up with a stiff neck that hurts whenever you even move it slightly is frustrating to deal with. This probably has to do with my pillow and how my head and neck was positioned on it, but it is not fun to deal with and usually lasts for a few days.
Ty, I can completely relate to you in terms of not changing my sleeping position. I always try to sleep on my side, but I often have to switch over to my stomach to go to sleep. Also, I believe Dr. Spock encouraged babies to sleep on their back, most likely for the reasons involving the spine, and many ended up dying. I would imagine the reasoning would be that they would vomit while laying on their backs and choke to death.
Jqr5447, if you have back pain after sleeping on your back, I would recommend putting a pillow below the back of your knees. It will put less stress on your back. This is one of the two positions my doctor recommended to sleep in.
Interesting post! I often sleep on my back. I’ve found that when I sleep like that for long periods of time, my lower back starts to hurt. I remember a study from class about how babies are not supposed to sleep on their chests. It makes sense that it would carry over to adults. What I’ve taken away is that any position that keeps your back and spine in line is the way to go.
Original blog post, I have always been curious about how sleep positions affect us. I was very surprised to read that sleeping on your back was not considered to be healthy; however, as you did more research you found this not to be true. I was curious on the matter to see if there were any more studies that gave a more definite conclusion so I looked up some studies myself. I found an article that did not give one optimal position for sleep, but rather discussed the pros and cons of each sleeping position. It was interesting to see that it ideal to sleep without a pillow. Overall, interesting topic I enjoyed reading your blog.
I found this super interesting because I’m pretty sure I move a lot when I sleep… unfortunately. I totally agree with you that some ways of sleeping are better than others. I have an issue where I put my arms above my head where I sleep and it’s cause me nerve trouble in the past. I remember seeing somewhere online that they way you sleep is somewhat indicative of your personality. Now, there’s a really good chance that it was just a silly Facebook thing I saw but I wonder if there’s any science or behavioral psychology to back it up!
This is very interesting. I have a tendency to sleep on my side. Like another commenter, this post reminded me about Dr. Spock. He encourage babies to sleep on their stomachs but that caused a lot of babies to die. Sometimes I sleep on my stomach. While I might be hurting my back, the pain is probably worth less than the sleep. Here is an article about what your sleeping position says about you. That would be a cool topic to look into. Now that we know what position is the best, what does it say about peoples personalities?
Your opening statement really caught my attention. 33% of our lives is sleeping, that’s insane. But on a different note, I decided to look into why we are more comfortable sleeping on certain positions and whether or not it had anything to do with how we slept in the womb/early stages of life. I could not find an definite answers on this question, but I feel as if it would be an interesting study to look into. I personally sleep on my stomach and often find that my back hurts in the morning. According to webmd.com, sleeping on your stomach reduces snoring completely also. Thanks for the post!
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/sleep-position-and-sleep-quality
This reminded me of what Andre taught us in class about Dr. Spock recommending that parents make their babies sleep on their stomachs. It doesn’t seem like the sleep position would make that much of a difference but, as seen by the fatal effects it had on the babies and the information you provided, it is clear that humans were never meant to sleep on their stomachs. Regardless, I can honestly say that this will not deter me from sleeping on my stomach in the future. The comfort factor is a little too much to overcome.
I find it difficult to believe that there is any one sort of sleeping position that is absolutely the best. Most of the time–unless extenuating circumstances are present–individuals will naturally fall into a non-harmful position of sleep. Regardless, I though that this was an extremely interesting post. well done!
As someone who deals with sleep problems (as most students do), this was a really cool topic. I recently began using an iPhone app where you place your phone next to your head while seeping and it measures how much you move, and correlates that with the mood you were in when you woke up.
I think there is a lot of interesting science that can go into this topic, which effects every human being. Your talk about sleep positions was super interesting, albeit, disheartening that there is no consensus. Great job!