C. Booth
Last Updated on January 7, 2021
We just can’t help it! We often sleep in one position and wake up in a completely different one. But, each of us has their trademark sleep position; there are the stomach sleepers, the people who sleep on their side, back, or with arms above their heads. Oh, and then there are people who still sleep in their fetus position!
Your sleeping position can play a major role in the quality of your sleep as well as the health of your spine. Many sleeping positions lead to discomfort caused by neck and back pain both during the day and night.
Poor sleeping positions may result in fatigue, sleep apnea, muscle cramps, headaches, and lower back cramps.
Have you ever experienced any of the aforementioned symptoms every morning? If not, your sleeping position might be perfect, but if you have, then you most likely sleep in one of the five positions we listed here.
#1 – Sleeping on your stomach
If you’re a snorer you may have read or heard somewhere that sleep on your stomach will reduce snoring and sleep apnea. While sleeping on your stomach may solve that problem, it can cause worse!
As a stomach sleeper, you may not be aware of the fact that the sleeping position stresses your back and spine, neck, and joints and causes back pain which you will feel once you wake up.
You may also have trouble breathing and feel pain all over your body and not just your back during the night when you sleep on your stomach. How is that a good night’s sleep?
#2 – Fetal position
Some habits never die even when you grow old, and the fetal sleeping position is one of them. How adorable and damaging!
Sleeping like a shrimp or fetus may be such a comfortable and nostalgic sleeping position to you and may have benefits on the body like warding off Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, according to scientific studies, but it can actually lead to several body problems!
When you sleep this way, your spine is bent forward and your chest is pressed against your knees which may cause back and neck pain, which will make you uncomfortable and unable to focus during the day.
#3 – Arms above head
This is hardly the ideal sleeping position.
When you wake up and find yourself sleeping with your arms above your head, it may indicate that you have trouble breathing at night or hint that you have sleep apnea, a sleeping disorder in which breathing stops and starts again.
This position may even worsen your sleep apnea which will affect the quality of your sleep and the health of your spine at the same time.
#4 – Sleeping on your side
Sleeping on your side is generally considered healthy but it may cause issues like neck pain or lower back pain which may occur because of the over-rotation of your pelvis.
The solution is to keep your spine straight by supporting both your head and neck with a pillow that is not very high or too low as it may result in severe neck pain and headaches.
It is also advisable to put pillows under your waist and upper leg when you sleep in this position. Make sure to replace your pillows every six months or year because they eventually lose their quality and get too low. This may pose as many problems as a bad sleeping position!
#5 – Sleeping on your back
You may even ask, “should I sleep while standing on my feet if I just can’t sleep on my stomach, side, and back?!”
Actually, you can still sleep on your back, BUT put a support pillow under your neck, lower back, and knees to reduce the strain on your spine as well as the probability of neck and back pain.
According to research studies, sleeping on your back is generally a good position as it does not put as much pressure on your spine compared to other positions.
And those were the 5 sleeping positions that put pressure on your neck and spine, and rob your of a peaceful sleep, perhaps even give you nightmares!
P.S. Remember to replace the pillows!
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