Wakey Wakey Don’t Be Achy
How can I support my spine while sleeping?
When you fall asleep on your stomach you are putting your body in an unnatural position and as a consequence, your head is turned to one side or the other all night. Your body also has a lot of pressure on the front side pressing on all the organs within including your abdomen, your stomach, and your intestines. Sleeping on your stomach can cause some increased neck pain, shoulder pain, and some increased back pain from it as well. Sleeping with your head turned to one side can not only cause neck pain but can trigger headaches when you wake up and cause some jaw pain.
What is the healthiest sleeping position?
- One of the first ways to help is to start out with a body pillow. If you start out sleeping on your side, you can place the body pillow up against your back to prevent you from rolling back over and onto your stomach. If you start out sleeping on your back, you can hug the body pillow to help prevent you from rolling over onto your stomach while sleeping.
- You can also buy a memory foam contour pillow. It will need to have contours and waves because you want it to be slightly uncomfortable on your face. If you roll over and are having to turn your head, your face won’t fit into those contours and it may help to break the habit of wanting to sleep on your stomach.
- The fetal position is another good sleeping position. Make sure it’s nice and loose as you don’t want your knees pressed all the way up to your chest. While in this position, you can place a pillow between your knees to help with lower back pain. Sleeping in this position can also help decrease snoring.
- When sleeping on your side, you will want to fall asleep on your left side. It will help improve digestion within your stomach, whereas on the right side, it does the opposite. You can have a lot more acid reflux if you fall asleep on your right side and wake up with indigestion and not feeling so great. It is also great for decreasing snoring as well. Just like the fetal position, if you have any low back pain that you are dealing with you can use a pillow to put in between your knees to help decrease the low back pain that you’re experiencing.
- Sleeping on your back is the best position you can fall asleep in. It protects all the curves of your spine and helps you rest naturally. It’s great for reducing any hip pain you may be experiencing. If you have low back pain you can use a wedge pillow to put underneath your low back to help accentuate your curve and stay in a more comfortable position.
If you absolutely cannot stop sleeping on your stomach then there are a few things you can do to help. By using no pillow or a very thin pillow it will help decrease any pressure in your neck that you may be feeling. While the muscles can still be sore, it’ll take away the arc of the pillow and help it be a more flat and relaxed space. If you can use a support and place it so when you lay it’s positioned on your stomach. This will help decrease any low back pain that you may be experiencing.
If this post works for you, please leave a comment down below. If it’s helped you change your sleeping habits or you’ve started to change your sleeping habits, please feel free to share this with people you may think it may help. You can watch the entire video here