The ideal sleeping position promotes healthy spine alignment from your head to your hips. The best position depends on your unique needs, but back or side sleeping is considered better than stomach sleeping. Side sleeping may reduce snoring and heartburn and prevent back pain.
"There's a host of evidence overall suggesting that probably sleeping on the side is better," says Dr. Virend Somers, a cardiologist and director of the sleep facility within Mayo Clinic's Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Side sleeping helps prevent the airway from collapsing and can reduce snoring.
Stomach sleeping
Sleeping on your stomach may put stress on your neck and shoulders because you twist your head at an unnatural angle. This position can also strain the spine after a while. If you have back pain, it's a good idea to train yourself to sleep on your side instead of your stomach.
Back Sleeping
The practice of lying on one's back is one that many elderly people find to be a source of comfort. This is good since this position has been shown to provide benefits.
According to experts, side sleeping offers the most health benefits. It's often the most comfortable way to sleep for many people, including pregnant women, and was the most popular position in multiple surveys. Sleeping on your side can also help reduce snoring, sleep apnea, and acid reflux episodes.
Sleeping on your back could be the best position for many older adults suffering from back, hip, or joint ailments. This relieves and evens out the pressure of the bodyweight on many internal organs like the heart, lungs, neck, and joints and is beneficial to maintaining spine alignment.
Reflux and heartburn: If you suffer from heartburn, sleeping on your right side can make symptoms worse, Salas says. That's true for people who have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and for people who have heartburn for other reasons, such as pregnant women.
Cognitive health is the ability to think, converse, learn, and remember clearly. It is needed to carry out many everyday activities effectively. The best sleep position for preventing cognitive decline, according to neurologists and studies, is sleeping on your side, particularly the left side.
You May Feel Unstable in Bed
For those of us that move around a lot in our sleep, have to sleep on a slight incline, or share the bed with a heavier partner, having one leg bent up can act as an anchor to help with weight distribution and stop us from migrating around the bed.
According to research published in the European Heart journal, going to sleep between 10pm and 11pm is linked to a lower risk of heart and circulatory disease. The study used data from over 88,000 UK Biobank participants aged 43-74, who were monitored over the course of a week.
According to Connor, you should sleep on your left side if you have high blood pressure. “This puts less strain on blood vessels, and in turn, less strain on our heart.” It also helps to keep your airway from being obstructed, which can decrease snoring and help you breathe more deeply through the night.
Improved Circulation & Vascular Health
Healthy circulation prevents blood from pooling in your veins, descreasing your risk for spider veins. But that's not all: when you sleep on your left side, you take pressure off your body's largest vein, the Vena Cava, located on the right side of your body.
Sleep Better on Your Back
A side position might be the most popular, but sleeping on your back is by consensus the most beneficial. Your back remains straight and your pelvis untwisted. Lying with your arms and legs extended out can be good for your spine and neck - some say it could even lead to fewer wrinkles!
Summary. No clinical evidence suggests any particular sleeping position may help a person lose weight. However, better quality sleep may contribute to weight loss or maintenance by helping a person maintain a healthy diet or exercise plan.
Sleeping on your front is considered unhealthy because it can inhibit breathing and cause irregular curvature of the spine. The turning of the head to one side when sleeping in this position is another cause of such a curvature.
“This study provides further evidence for a relatively strong association between supine sleep and neurodegeneration in PSD, [Alzheimer's disease,] and [mild cognitive impairment] cohorts,” the authors wrote in their presentation.
Recent research shows the glymphatic system is most active during sleep. Getting quality sleep, staying hydrated, exercising, and reducing stress all promote robust waste clearance from the brain. Prioritizing these lifestyle factors during and after detox maximizes the benefits of this critical detoxification pathway.
People with heart failure might experience discomfort on their left sides and instead prefer to sleep on their right sides. Studies show that many people with heart failure naturally choose to sleep on their right side and avoid sleeping on the left side, and this effect is greater in people with an enlarged heart.
Try the best position to sleep with anxiety: The best sleeping position for anxiety is on your back with your limbs splayed out, otherwise known as the 'shooting star' position or supine position. While you may feel tempted to curl on your side, this position causes muscle tension rather than relaxation.
Almost everybody has a side of the bed they sleep on, and most couples need to establish this as soon as they decide to start sleeping together. Research shows that men often tend to sleep on the right as it makes them feel dominant while women prefer the left as it makes them feel safe.
Side Sleeping
Place one pillow under your top arm to support your arm/shoulder. Fold hand towel(s) and place long ways directly underneath your torso (approximately the area between bottom rib & top of hip/pelvis). Place one pillow between legs, contacting all areas including feet.
For some people, sleeping on the floor every day can be safe and beneficial. However, it's not recommended for everyone. Older adults, individuals with certain health conditions, or those with mobility issues should consult a Spine Surgeon before making the switch to floor sleeping.