Sleep Positions: How if Affects Your Sleep Quality

One of the first things you might want to address is how you sleep. In other words, is it possible that the position or positions in which you sleep are the sources of your sleeping problems? Assuming this is a potential source of your problems with getting enough sleep, we feel compelled to help you. The help comes in the form of sharing information with you regarding the best and worst positions in which you can sleep.

Since the welfare of your health and family are on the line, take a moment and read the following information. Also, you should reach out and share this health information with other family members.

Best Sleep Positions for Better Health

Before describing the best sleep positions for health, we want you to understand that comfort matters when you sleep. However, positions that feel comfortable might put undue stress on certain parts of your body, parts like your neck and spine. Over time, your health will suffer and your sleep will likely continue to get worse. Accordingly, comfort should not always be your top concern.

Without further delay, here are the best positions in which to sleep for optimal health.

The Fetal Position

It’s not by chance that unborn babies sleep in the fetal position. Obviously, that is where people derived the term fetal position. The fact is the fetal position is perhaps the most natural position for the human body when lying down.

The benefits of the fetal position include little to no stress on the lower back and neck. For pregnant women, this is a really good sleep position because of the extra stress carrying a baby puts on the lower back all day long.

If there is any downside to sleeping in the fetal position, it would likely be that it might not be the best position for breathing freely. Also, it might not be the best position for people with knee joint problems. To alleviate these kinds of problems, you should keep your legs extended and maybe put a pillow in between your legs.

Side Sleeping

The benefits of side sleeping include keeping your spine alignment in a more natural position and keeping the strain off your neck. Again, sleeping with a pillow between your knees will help with any spine alignment issues you might have. Also, side sleeping helps with digestion, in turn reducing problems with heartburn and indigestion.

If you want to sleep on your side, you will want to consider sleeping on your left side. While it might seem ridiculous that the side you sleep on would matter, there is some evidence that sleeping on your right side could make digestive problems worse.

Supine or Back Sleeping

If you breathe freely (no snoring or sleep apnea) when sleeping, sleeping on your back might do you very well. It allows your mattress and pillow to give full support to your body. This keeps pressure off your spine and internal organs, which actually helps with heart health. If you place a pillow under your feet to keep your feet above your heart level, you can relieve symptoms of peripheral edema (swelling of the feet and ankles).

Of course, back sleeping is a dreadful position for people with respiratory issues. That’s why back sleepers struggle with snoring and sleep apnea.

The Worst Positions for Sleep

Every possible sleep position has its pros and cons. The aforementioned three positions truly have more pros than cons, which is why they are listed as the best positions for sleep.

There is one sleep position that has very few benefits and holds the potential for causing problems. That would be stomach sleeping.

Stomach Sleeping

The only real benefit to stomach sleeping is it reduces the blockage of air through the respiratory system. That’s why heavy snorers like to sleep on their stomachs. Unfortunately, the cons of this sleep position outweigh the pros.

Sleeping on your back puts your neck in an unnatural position. Over time, it will also put a strain on your shoulder and upper back muscles. Eventually, you might experience pinched nerves in these areas, which could result in numbness in your hands and feet.

Conclusion

While comfort is surely an issue when sleeping, comfort sometimes comes with a price. Knowing the pros and cons of each sleep position gives you choices. You can use this information to balance the health benefits with comfort levels. Once you are able to find the right balance, you should start sleeping better and feeling healthier during the day.