Have you thought much about the positions in which you sleep? Considering that many of us spend close to a third of our lives between the sheets, if might be worth our while to contemplate how sleeping arrangements might hurt or help us. It is pretty easy to know if the way you sleep is bothering you. How do you feel when you get out of bed in the morning? Some people jump out of bed ready to run a marathon while others find themselves bent over the bathroom sink, holding on for dear life, as teeth get brushed. Maybe you fall somewhere between those two extremes. Let’s start with a position that no one should sleep in under any circumstance: 1. On the stomach If there's a winner in the worst sleep position contest, it's stomach sleeping without a doubt. If you sleep on your belly, your lower back is compressed all night long, and your head and neck are invariably twisting to one or the other side in a fairly extreme manner. While changing sleep habits might not be the easiest thing in the world, we are a highly adaptable species capable of doing pretty much anything we want, though sometimes extreme measures are called for.
When it comes to sleeping on your stomach, you might need to wear a pocket T-shirt to sleep with a tennis ball tucked into the pocket. It is certainly possible that you might be able to change without it but if not, the tennis ball in the pocket should do the trick. Another sleep position to be avoided is: 2. On the side with one leg hiked up higher than the other This position moves us toward stomach sleeping but also twists and torques the pelvis for as long as you maintain the shape. People who adopt this pattern often do so to accommodate tight muscles, so changing this pattern can benefit you in terms of the quality of sleep and balance of your muscles. Some people need to tie their legs together in order to make this change. You can use a bathrobe belt or something soft, and there's no need to tie the strap too tight, but as long as the legs can’t separate you will be doing your body a wonderful service. A great way to sleep for most people is: 3. On the back
Sleeping on the back is an excellent option with three important caveats. If you sleep on your back, you probably don’t want to use a pillow, because this will force your head up at an unnatural angle. Both legs should be straight. There's a tendency for one knee to slide up and out. This should be avoided, as it can twist the pelvis. Also, if you're someone with very open hips whose legs flop completely open while lying in a supine position, you can be stressing the hip joints with too much rotation. Propping up the outer calves or belting the shins is an option if you have open hips as described and don’t want to change your position away from sleeping on your back. But the winner of the best sleep position for the long term health of your back and body is: 4. On your side, with the legs together Sleeping on your side with the legs together and the knees aligned is a fine way to serve the needs of your body for sleep. The least amount of stress is placed upon the body when sleeping this way.
Your pelvis is well situated, and this variation on the fetal position is both calming and comforting for your nervous system. Placing a pillow between the legs is an excellent complement to this position. Make your pillow is the right thickness between your ear and your mattress so that both sides of the neck are evenly extended. This way, you're setting yourself up for a comfortable and sound night’s sleep. The quality of your sleep shouldn’t be disregarded in the search for a healthier and more fruitful life. The rest we get overnight impacts the energy of our waking hours in ways that are often underestimated. Good sleep positioning goes hand in hand with good sleep efficiency and fruitful waking hours.There are three different sleeping positions and each of these can lead to different choices in a mattress. Of course almost everyone sleeps in different positions through the night but most of us have our favorite or at least our favorite two. Lets take a look at each of them and how they can affect which mattress may work best for you.
Side sleeping is the most common sleeping position and because it has a more "curvy" profile than the other two positions, pressure relief becomes an important part of the choice here so you don't end up sleeping on your more pointy or bony parts or to use a technical term ... your bony prominences. These are of course your hips and your shoulders. There are deeper gaps to "fill in" to spread your weight out on the mattress when you are sleeping on your side so side sleepers need a deeper cradle to relieve pressure so the gaps are filled in and help spread the weight over the mattress. In other words they need to "sink IN" to the comfort layers more. This means that the comfort layers generally need to be a little softer and/or thicker than the other 2 positions. In general a good starting point for a good comfort layer for a side sleeper is 3" and then depending on weight, body shape, preferences, and the firmness of the support layers, to go up or down from there. Most side sleepers will fall in the range of from 2" -4".
Without an appropriate comfort layer, a side sleeper will end up with pressure points during the course of the night and could have symptoms of numbness, soreness, localized redness, or end up tossing and turning all night as your body tries to relieve the pressure. Back sleeping is the second most common position and has a slightly less curvy profile than side sleeping. The "gap" that needs to be filled in with the comfort layer for pressure relief is generally the small of the back (the lumbar area) and because the "gaps" in your profile are not quite as deep as in side sleeping, a slightly thinner top layer will generally work a little better. In back sleeping in other words a slightly shallower cradle is needed. A good starting point for a back sleeper is 2" of softer material on top of your mattress and then increasing or decreasing from there depending on other factors like weight, preferences, or other sleeping positions. Stomach sleeping is the least common position and has the flattest sleeping profile of all the positions.
Stomach sleepers have fewer gaps to fill in and need a thinner, firmer top comfort layer than the other positions. It is especially important for a stomach sleeper to avoid hyperextension of the lumbar area. A good place to start is 1" of softer material so there is enough "softness" to cushion the bony parts of the pelvis. In general, stomach sleepers should choose the thinnest firmest comfort layers that are comfortable as sinking in too far can lead to a swayback position and cause back issues. Stomach sleeping is the most prone of all sleeping positions to sinking down too far in the pelvic area. Combination sleeping is the most common of all and most people fall into this group although different people spend more or less time than others in different sleeping positions. Combination sleeping is also more difficult to deal with than someone who sleeps in one position since the different positions have different basic requirements. Since most of us fall in this group, it is important to choose a mattress that is able to keep you comfortable in all your sleeping positions.
Fortunately better quality materials and constructions have a range of different positions they can respond to and even extreme differences in profile (such as stomach/side sleepers) can be accommodated with different materials and styles of mattress. With combination sleeping it is usually wise to choose a comfort layer that is a little thinner than your "deepest” sleeping position would normally require (typically side sleeping) and then choose a support layer underneath that helps you to sink in a little extra when you need it. A middle layer or "transition layer" can be especially useful for those who sleep in multiple positions and it can help you to sink in enough to help with pressure relief and also help keep you from sinking down too far and causing back issues. Innerspring designs that are more conforming like pocket coils or offset coils or different foams that are softer on top and become firmer faster when they are compressed (such as latex) also make very good choices here.
The support layers underneath the upper softer comfort layers are of course important for all 3 positions but different sleeping positions will need different combinations here. If you are choosing a thinner comfort layer which needs a little bit of help in forming a cradle (especially for combination sleeping), or if you change positions during the night (which most people do), then a more conforming support layer is appropriate which means a little softer. Conforming innersprings like pocket coils and offset coils or middle layers of foam that are "in between" the softer comfort layer and the firmer bottom part of the support layer make good choices. If you choose a slightly thicker comfort layer which already forms a perfect cradle for your sleeping position and you don't change positions a lot during the night, then a firmer support layer underneath is important to stop any further sinking down of the heavier parts of your body. In these cases a middle layer is often not even needed and the support layer may be a single thicker layer instead (just an innerspring or a single thicker layer of firmer foam).