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Top Health Benefits Of Different Sleeping Positions
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3. The Fetal Position
This position is the most common among adults according to Sleep.org with 41 percent opting for it each night. In this position, you lay on your side, with the torso curled over slightly and the knees pulled up, producing a somewhat “hunched over look”. This position is good for people who have problems with snoring.
The fetal position is, as the name might suggest, also a good sleeping position for women during pregnancy. This is because it improves blood circulation in both the mother and the growing fetus. For pregnant women, it is better to sleep on the left rather than the right side because the reverse causes the uterus to put more pressure upon the liver. One disadvantage of this position is that it can cause some pain in the joints and backs of people with arthritis. It can cause back pain in anyone, actually, due to how the spine curves with the body as it presses down into the mattress. As with sleeping on the side, try putting a pillow between your legs to prevent the downward curvature of the spine during sleep.
Also- this rarely happens, but if you roll over in your sleep from your side into a facedown fetal position, it can produce a massive charlie horse in your legs. This term refers to the intense numbness caused by compressed blood vessels. It can be painful as the blood flow returns to normal and as the sensation in your legs and the ability to move them slowly returns. Again, unlikely to happen, but something to be aware of.
4. Laying on Your Back
This might be the healthiest position to sleep in. It keeps your airways open, reduces pressure on the spine and joints, and prevents stomach acid from travelling up the throat, assuming you are using a pillow. Another advantage is that unlike the other positions, sleeping on your back does not contribute to wrinkle formation and skin sagging on your face, since the sleep surface is not making contact with skin nor is gravity exerting any effect. It also thought to help prevent breasts from sagging. Women who sleep on their backs are less likely to experience this over time since the weight of the breasts is fully supported and so is their bodyweight.
The one downside about sleeping on your back- and it will be a big one for some people- is that it is the most likely to produce snoring. There are snoring strips and other solutions to this, but this is something to keep in mind.
READ ALSO: Pros And Cons Of Each Sleeping Position Infographic
Experiment with each and see how you feel the next morning. You might feel better after switching it up. There are of course other factors which affect quality of sleep, such as lighting, the time of day/night, noise level, and the amount of stimulants you ingested that day. However, changing your position is one of the easiest ways to begin hacking your sleep. Pleasant dreams!
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