Why is sleeping on your back better?

Question

Why is sleeping on your back better?

Answer 1

Sleeping on a soft bed or couch can strain neck and back muscles since the three curves of the spine are not adequately supported. Sleeping on your stomach is not recommended since it can cause additional strain on the neck and back. Make sure you have a firm mattress that keeps the spine aligned and supports the spinal curvatures. The best sleeping positions are on your back or side. A pillow can be placed under the knees when lying on your back to take pressure off of the lower back.

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Sleeping on your side

If you find sleeping on your side comfortable, the best way to ensure maximum comfort is to bend your legs slightly and to have a pillow between your legs, or even a full length body pillow. This position can help keep your skips level and reduce any pain you might have there.

Sleeping on your back

Sleeping on your back can be very good if you have lower back pain. The best position to be in is to put a pillow under your knees to remove the strain from your lower back.

Sleeping on your stomach

It is generally not good for your back to sleep on your stomach, but if you need to for some specific reason, then it will help reduce back strain if you put a pillow under your pelvis and abdomen. As well, using a pillow in this position will also cause strain on your neck, so try sleeping without a pillow, or with a very small one.

I found the following also:

BEST POSITIONS FOR SLEEPING

Q: What is he best position for sleeping to keep your back healthy?

A: This is a common question I get in my office on a weekly basis. My patented answer is, any sleep that is deep and uninterrupted that leaves you feeling rested and rejuvenated is a great sleep session, regardless of the position you fell asleep or wake up in.

Hypothetically the best position to sleep is flat on your back with your hands at your side similar to a corpse. The neck should be supported either by a very thin pillow, no pillow or one that induces the cervical (neck) curve gently. This corpse position is considered the most favorable due to the natural anatomically posture of the entire body. Weight bearing for gravity is equally distributed from the head to the feet and the organs are at rest in their natural positions.

The second best position for sleeping would be the fetal position. This position as the name describes is lying on either side with both knees bent up towards the chest. The arms should once again be comfortable in front of the body. Placing a hand, arm or elbow under your head could potentially irritate neck, jaw or shoulder muscles.

Utilization of large fluffy or over stuffed pillows is definitely a poor posture to place your head, neck and shoulders. Also, using two or three pillows in these same areas will aggravate the spine and neck region.

The WORSE position is lying on your STOMACH with you hands over you head, ironically the most common position my patients relate to me that the sleep in. The reasoning behind this position being so unhealthy is that while on your stomach, your ribcage and torso are compressing your vital internal organs such as your heart, liver, lungs, spleen, etc. While compression is occurring to these organs they have less ability to contract and expand through normal phases of respiration. Blood supply and therefore oxygen supply may be inhibited or minimized not allowing normal daily detoxification and healing to occur fully.

Once again, despite any of the positions, it is most important to get a complete comfortable amount of sleep for normal healing and repair throughout the entire body.

If you suffer with insomnia and you sense it is not from emotional distress but from a physical ailment, then you should consult your chiropractor regarding the nature or cause to your symptoms

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