What Sleep Position Is Healthiest for You?

What Sleep Position Is Healthiest for You?
The amount and quality of sleep you get can impact your brain, heart, and gastrointestinal health.

You are aware of the importance of sleep to your health; one study recently determined that seven hours of sleep per night was best. The way you sleep, whether on your side, flat on your back, or prone, appears to have an impact on your health and wellbeing. That difference might be considerable given that you spend a third of your day in bed.

Although everyone has a different sleeping experience, experts claim that specific positions can help or even avoid some health issues. Here are the recommended sleeping positions for various issues.

To breathe more easily, sleep on your side.

You may have observed that while you are resting on your back, you snore more loudly than when you are not. According to neurologist Rachel Marie E. Salas, M.D., assistant medical director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep and Wellness in Baltimore, “it can be significant if you have untreated obstructive sleep apnea.”

When the tissues in the back of the throat relax and seal, obstructive sleep apnea occurs and temporarily deprives you of oxygen. As you sputter or pant for air, this causes frequent nighttime awakenings. Fragmented sleep and exhaustion are the results.

Salas advises getting evaluated for sleep apnea, which is frequently treated by using a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) device, even if snoozing on your side frequently eliminates the problem. According to her, 40% of persons who fit the diagnostic criteria for apnea go undiagnosed. But it also makes you more likely to have a heart attack, a stroke, high blood pressure, or heart arrhythmias. Dementia risk is also elevated in people with sleep apnea.

For back pain, sleep on your back.

The position you sleep in can make a big difference in whether you wake up feeling rested or so stiff you want to crawl back into bed if you’re one of the 80% of Americans who have struggled with back pain.

According to Shaleen Vira, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery and director of spine surgery research at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, “sleeping on your back in the neutral position is the gold standard.” Maintaining your spine’s natural curvature and alignment is what a neutral posture entails.

Choose the “just right” sleeping pillow while supporting your knees with a rolled towel or pillow. Your neck will become kyphotic, or forward-leaning, if you sleep on a pillow that is too large, according to Vira. Additionally, sleeping on an inadequate pillow or without a pillow at all might result in hyperextension and other physical stresses.

The next-best position, according to Vira, is to sleep on your side, preferably with a pillow between your knees to correct your back. However, because it flattens the natural curvature of your back, sleeping on your stomach, which forces you to move your head to one side or the other to breathe, is the worst posture for your spine. In addition, the neck and back are both stressed.

Sleep on your side to enhance brain capacity

worried about the condition of your brain? Side sleeping could help keep you bright and perhaps lessen your dementia risk.

Here’s why: During the day, harmful byproducts of the brain’s activities build in the central nervous system and are flushed away during sleep via cerebrospinal fluid, which surrounds the brain and spinal cord. The brain waste includes beta amyloid, a protein seen in the brains of persons with Alzheimer’s disease.

According to study coauthor Maiken Nedergaard, a professor of neuroscience and neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), who discovered the brain’s cleaning system, research has shown that this waste clearance system functions best when people sleep on their sides, particularly the right side.

The heart assists in the pumping of cerebrospinal fluid, which is why it is advantageous for brain clearance. According to Nedergaard, “the blood pumping initiates pulsations of the blood vessel walls that propel cerebrospinal fluid into the brain.” When people lie on their sides, this procedure operates more effectively, speeding up the cleaning process.

To protect your heart, sleep on your right side at night.

Data has demonstrated that when people lie on their left side during sleep, the position of their heart alters due to the force of gravity. That alters the electrical activity of the heart, which is seen on electrocardiograms (ECG). When they’re sleeping on the right side, however, tissues and structures between the lungs hold the heart in place and ECGs remain normal.

Sleeping on the left side isn’t a problem if you don’t have underlying cardiac difficulties. However, it can cause discomfort and even breathing problems in persons with congestive heart failure and other heart conditions. Try turning to your right when you hit the sheets if that sounds familiar.

For improved digestion, sleep on your left side.

A restful night’s sleep can be ruined by the agony of heartburn, indigestion, and acid reflux illness, often known as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). But according to Salas, “sleeping on your left side helps to make it a little better.” It relieves some of the tightness in your stomach. In fact, studies have shown that right-side sleepers with GERD not only have more instances of heartburn than left-side sleepers, but these episodes also stay longer.

Slightly elevating the head of the bed or using a foam wedge to keep your head higher than your chest can also be useful. Salas claims that although it doesn’t alleviate the reflux, it can lessen the symptoms.

Health and lifestyle author Beth Howard resides in North Carolina. She has written for U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and Prevention, among dozens of other publications.