Side sleepers may be especially prone to deeper wrinkles or creases on the sides of their faces plus creases on their cheeks and chins. The best sleep position for preventing wrinkles is sleeping on your back. Not only do you avoid the skin friction but also the bacteria that live on your pillow so major bonus!
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.
Skin makes new collagen when you sleep, which prevents sagging. “That's part of the repair process,” says Patricia Wexler, MD, a dermatologist in New York. More collagen means skin is plumper and less likely to wrinkle. Only getting 5 hours a night can lead to twice as many fine lines as sleeping 7 would.
Sleeping on your back is considered the best sleep position for healthy skin. When you sleep on your back, your face is not pressed against a pillow, which can help prevent wrinkles and acne caused by the friction and pressure of the pillow.
Wrinkles. Studies have shown that pillows can compress the skin during sleep, particularly in people who sleep on their stomach or their side. Over time, this can lead to sleep wrinkles and contribute to the visible signs of aging. Sleeping without a pillow can stop the face from scrunching up during the night.
As a result, side sleeping is the best way to sleep for your brain. According to research, the brain's glymphatic system is almost completely dormant during the day and most active while you sleep. While a person sleeps, the canals that form their brain's glymphatic system increase by around 60%.
If you are a side sleeper, you should consider sleeping on the left side. It alleviates acid reflux and heartburn, boosts digestion, stimulates the drainage of toxins from your lymph nodes, improves circulation, and helps your brain filter out waste.
Sleeping on your left side can help naturally open the airways and make breathing easier. You may also find relief if you rest on your right side, but doctors believe sleeping on your left side to be more effective. It's also the recommended sleeping position for people with sleep apnea.
Most people find that aging causes them to have a harder time falling asleep. They wake up more often during the night and earlier in the morning. Total sleep time stays the same or is slightly decreased (6.5 to 7 hours per night). It may be harder to fall asleep and you may spend more total time in bed.
Sleep and Aging
Older adults need about the same amount of sleep as all adults—7 to 9 hours each night.
Dr. Frieling adds that getting enough sleep has dozens of anti-aging benefits for skin, including the natural, sleep-induced production of collagen, which prevents sagging skin and wrinkles. So over time, consistent sleep deprivation can cause a more rapid depletion of skin elasticity and plumpness.
Best: On your back with a pillow under your knees, or on your good side with a pillow between your knees.
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. Flip to your left side to cool the burn.
For optimal side sleeping, consider placing a pillow or wedge between your legs / knees or adding other support pillows. Plush mattresses can be good for side sleepers since they oftentimes allow for deeper contour and hug, which helps support the spinal position of a side sleeper.
Ayurveda and modern science, both are in favour of waking up from the right-side of the bed. Ayurveda's belief system claims that our body has Surya Nadi on the right side of our body. So, when you rise on your right side, it actually helps to boost the digestive system.
Researchers suggested the supine position reduces blood movement in and out of the brain, and reduces lung efficiency, resulting in lower brain oxygenation.
The horizontal positioning associated with sleep (often with nose up, and back of the head down) helps to redistribute both gravitational ischemia and blood flow.
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.
In other words, the best sleeping position is usually on your back. With the back of your head to the pillow, keeping your skin off the pillow can help prevent not only wrinkles, but it can even help prevent exposure to bacteria.
There's nothing wrong with wearing a bra while you sleep if that's what you're comfortable with. Sleeping in a bra will not make a girl's breasts perkier or prevent them from getting saggy. And it will not stop breasts from growing or cause breast cancer.
The best sleeping position is one that maintains the natural curve of your spine and allows easy breathing throughout the night. Lying on your back is often the best for this, but many prefer side or stomach sleeping. Using a body pillow for support can make any of these positions more comfortable.