A potential downside is that this position may increase your risk of experiencing acid reflux symptoms when you wake up if you suffer from an acid issue. Also, though the reason is not known or understood, sleep paralysis is more common when sleeping on your back.
We recommend side sleeping since it offers more health benefits, such as reducing pressure on the heart. Side sleeping can also reduce snoring, obstructive sleep apnea, and acid reflux symptoms. Back sleeping tends to aggravate these conditions thanks to the effects of gravity.
Specifically, sleeping on the side or back is considered more beneficial than sleeping on the stomach. In either of these sleep positions, it's easier to keep your spine supported and balanced, which relieves pressure on the spinal tissues and enables your muscles to relax and recover.
The ideal sleep position: On your back
The best position to avoid back pain is lying flat on your back. Even so, many people find it the hardest way to enjoy deep sleep. For optimal spine alignment, place one pillow underneath your head or neck and another underneath your knees.
Sleeping on your back offers the most health benefits. It protects your spine, and it can also help relieve hip and knee pain. Sleeping on your back uses gravity to keep your body in an even alignment over your spine. This can help reduce any unnecessary pressure on your back or joints.
Pull your knees up slightly toward your chest. The pillow for your head should keep your spine straight. A rolled towel or small pillow under your waist may also help support your spine. Insert pillows into gaps between your body and the mattress.
While research is limited, anecdotal reports show that sleeping without a pillow can help reduce neck and back pain for some sleepers. Stomach sleepers are generally best suited for going pillowless, because the lower angle of the neck encourages better spinal alignment in this position.
Laying on your back for long periods can cause the muscles that support the normal curvature of your back to become fatigued. When you wake up with muscle fatigue, you will experience tight muscles and back pain.
Research has shown that in the third trimester (after 28 weeks of pregnancy) going to sleep on your back increases your risk of stillbirth. As the link has now been shown in four separate research trials, our advice is to go to sleep on your side in the third trimester because it is safer for your baby.
Back sleeping is no longer safe after 28 weeks gestation, but there are a few other comfortable positions for you to safely doze in.
A 2019 study published in Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, showed among 165 participants (45 with diagnosed neurodegenerative disease, 120 controls) a supine sleep position (on back, head at body level) for more than 2 hours per night increased the risk of dementia by almost four times (3.7 times greater).
According to sleep experts, you should sleep with only one pillow under your head, however, preference and sleeping position often take the lead when it comes to considerations for the ideal number of pillows. Read on to learn why we recommend sleeping with a high-quality single pillow.
Side sleeping: This position helps to improve sleep, lose weight and pain. back, avoid swelling in legs, buttocks, thighs. Sleeping on the left side is a good position for the digestive system, avoiding the accumulation of fat.
Sleeping on your back offers the most health benefits. It protects your spine, and it can also help relieve hip and knee pain. Sleeping on your back uses gravity to keep your body in an even alignment over your spine. This can help reduce any unnecessary pressure on your back or joints.
Improved sleep quality
Sleeping naked certainly removes any possibility of pajama-induced overheating interfering with a good night's rest. It's the absolute final move in shedding layers to stay cool. “There's no question that cooler is better than warmer for overall sleeping,” says Dr. Drerup.
Proponents of the Japanese sleep system claim many benefits--both health and otherwise--to sleeping on the floor. Among them: Cooler temperatures, since cool air settles to the floor. Better circulation, and reduced back and muscle pain.
If you are an active sleeper and are worried about rolling from your back onto your side or stomach soon after you fall asleep, there are measures you can take to help prevent this. Try placing pillows around your midsection and hips. These pillows can help prevent you from rolling over during the night.
Sleeping on your back can lead to a sore lower back as well. There is one big pro to this position, though: It can help acid reflux. Make it better: To help avoid aches in this face-up position, place a pillow or rolled-up towel under your knees.
May prevent wrinkles and lines
Back sleeping also helps keep your skin care products on your face and off of the pillowcase. By back sleeping, you avoid face-to-pillow contact and keep the neck straight, preventing the premature development or deepening of wrinkles and lines.
The recommended sleeping direction per vastu shastra is that you lie down with your head pointed southward. A north-to-south body position is considered the worst direction.
If you lay mainly on your back, you can use a pillow to support your arm either by your side (pillow under arm) or out to the side (if your movement allows). Use a small pillow to support the weight of the arm. Many people need two pillows, one under the shoulder blade and one under the arm.
Research suggests that wearing socks to bed can help people not only fall asleep faster, but sleep longer and wake up fewer times throughout the night. One study found that young men wearing socks fell asleep 7.5 minutes faster, slept 32 minutes longer, and woke up 7.5 times less often than those not wearing socks.
Your shoulders should not be on the pillow. Not So Great: On your side, with your legs curled up towards the chest. This does not provide spine alignment for the shoulders and neck. It also does not evenly distribute weight throughout your body and can lead you to waking up in the morning with back pain.
Darkness is essential to sleep. The absence of light sends a critical signal to the body that it is time to rest. Light exposure at the wrong times alters the body's internal "sleep clock"—the biological mechanism that regulates sleep-wake cycles—in ways that interfere with both the quantity and quality of sleep.
If you sleep on your back, place a pillow under your knees to help maintain the normal curve of your lower back. You might try a small, rolled towel under the small of your back for additional support. Support your neck with a pillow.