Best Sleeping Positions

Barely a few days go by without some news story about sleep. How much, how little, sleep apnea, dream interpretation, snoring, teeth grinding, night sweats, the right bed, the correct pillow, how to fall asleep, how to stay asleep, the best non-habit-forming medications.

Sleep is an equally essential to air, water, and food. Unfortunately, most of us simply do not get enough of it. Adequate sleep is crucially important for workers in transportation such as pilots, air traffic controllers, train engineers, truck drivers. The Air Force conducted a test beginning in 2002 to see how sleep deprivation affected their pilots. Of the several hundred participants they found almost all became delirious after 3 to 4 days without sleep. The conclusion? Without adequate sleep, there was a high probability the pilots would crash their jets.

Studies show a direct correlation between lack of sleep and auto crashes by teenagers on their morning drive to school! Teenagers possess a different circadian rhythm than adults and younger children. School administrators are beginning to rethink school start times for our teens.

Do you know the best sleeping position for you?   Here are the pros and cons of different sleeping positions, the best pillow to use, how to make sleeping more comfortable if you have pain, how to get the deepest sleep possible and what your sleep position says about your personality.

There are three main sleep positions with variations on all three. The primary ones are side-sleepers (fetals, yearners, and logs); back sleepers (starfish and soldiers), and stomach sleepers (the freefallers).  

If you sleep on your side, you are not alone. Most people are side-sleepers. Some curl up into a fetal position while others look like a log. We have the cuddlers, spooners and those who sleep face to face rebreathing each other's air...hummm. Most people sleep on the same side of the bed for a lifetime.

PROS: Side-sleeping is good for overall health. Your body is basically aligned with less pressure on any one organ. It's better to bend your knees slightly and avoid over flexing your neck forward.

Pregnant women are advised to sleep on their left side with extra pillows. Left-sided sleeping is the perfect birthing position for baby (left side, head down). It also helps Mom avoid back pain and indigestion. Tucking a small pillow between the stomach and the bed helps to support the belly. Putting another pillow between the knees helps to keep the sacroiliac joint in alignment.

CONS: The downside of side-sleeping is facial and chest wrinkling, there always has to be a glitch! For women, side sleeping can also contribute to breast sag as breast ligaments do stretch. Wearing a soft bra while sleeping could help this.

PAIN: If you have back pain or sciatica, put a pillow between your knees and bring your knees closer to your chest. If you have a bad shoulder, do not sleep on that side! Put a pillow in front of you and drape the bad arm over the pillow to avoid over-stretching the shoulder muscles.

BEST PILLOW: Should be one that maintains your neck and head in a straight line from the base of your skull to your tailbone. One that is about 2" thick at the neck and 1" thick for the head is perfect. Tempurpedic pillows are temperature regulated, the colder the room, the firmer the pillow and vice-versa. Once your head or neck transfers heat to the pillow, it gets flatter. I prefer Talalay pillows, shredded rubber. Naturally antimicrobial, not temperature dependent, super comfy, easily laundered, but more expensive.

PERSONALITY: Although I don't have an opinion about this, it's interesting to see if you, or more importantly, your partner, have these traits.

• Fetal: Tough on the outside, sensitive on the inside.
• Log (arms and legs straight down): One study report logs are extroverts and easy going. Another study suggests log sleepers are rigid, stubborn and bossy. Whatever fits.
• Yearners (arms straight out in front): Slow decision makers but chasing life and their dreams, eager to take on the day.

PROS: Sleeping on your back is great for your spine. There is no pressure on the organs, and it's good for circulation or if you have night sweats. You should mention nights sweats to your primary care doctor during your next visit.

Back sleeping is better if you have a cold, GI problems, acid reflux, nasal congestion, or allergies. For these conditions, try turning the pillow length-wise, so your entire back is resting on the pillow and elevated rather than just your head.

Back sleeping is preferred if you have a shoulder issue or costochondritis (arthritis of the ribs).

CONS:It's not the best position if you are a snorer or have sleep apnea. Back sleeping causes your jaw to drop open and gravity forces the base of your tongue to fall back into your airway. This can obstruct your breathing and cause you to gasp for breath. A night out drinking can raise the decibel level of your snores and gasps to such levels one could hardly blame the neighbors when filing a complaint!

If you sleep with a snorer, encourage them to move onto their side (easier said than done), and prop a pillow up against their back. This makes it a bit more difficult to roll and usually gives you enough time to fall asleep.

PAIN:If you have low back pain or sciatica, put another pillow or two under your knees. This rounds the lumbar region and takes the pressure off the nerves.

BEST PILLOW:The best pillow for back sleepers in ONE that is not too high or firm which forces your neck and head forward - we do enough of this while we are awake! Ideally, we want a continuous smooth curve from the tailbone to the head, no sharp angles. A medium soft pillow, about 2" high is the best, even better if you find one that cradles your head.

I must admit "My Pillow", the one advertised on TV, is quite comfortable. I do have an issue with the polyurethane fill - plastic. Although the pillow is manufactured in the U.S. I highly doubt the fill is made here and breathing in plastic and all those chemicals for 7 to 8 hours a day is not a choice for me.

PERSONALITY:  

• Starfish (arms over the head): these folks are good listeners and introverts.
• Soldiers (arms down by their sides): quiet, reserved with high expectations.

Many, many people love to fall asleep on their stomachs.

PROS: Great position if you have a sunburn on your back. I also understand it is the only position for those people recovering from buttocks augmentation (butt implants).

CONS: There are many problems with sleeping on your stomach regardless of the ingenious pillows now produced for stomach sleepers.

• It puts undue and excessive pressure on your neck when it is twisted in rotation. Your head should be in a neutral position with no undue flexion, extension, lateral flexion or rotation.
• It puts too much pressure on your chest. Your body weight compresses your rib cage and sternum and impedes your natural breathing motion.
• If you have a large belly, there is simply to much weight on your stomach and GI track.
• Stomach sleeping causes too much extension in your low back.
• If you have allergies, you are inhaling dander, dust mites and allergens directly into your nose and mouth from your pillow.
• Sleeping on your stomach increases facial wrinkles, or speeds up the process of facial wrinkling.
• If your arm is under your head, it causes numbness and tingling (dysesthesia) to your arm and hand.

In 1992 US pediatricians sent out an important mandate: Babies should NOT sleep on their stomachs. As a result of this action, the incident of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) decreased by a whopping 50% - a huge number in medical statistics.

In my practice, I can usually tell if a person is a stomach sleeper when reading their x-rays. Typically seen are cervical bone spurs in people as young as 35 with no history of injury to the area. Often these people are stomach sleepers. This is what bone spurs look like.

It's hard to break the habit of stomach sleeping. The best way is to start by sleeping on your side with a pillow tucked tightly to your chest. This discourages rolling onto your stomach. It takes about a month to break the habit.

PAIN:Stomach sleeping increases back and neck pain.

BEST PILLOW:No pillow for your head. A very soft, low pillow if you tuck your arm under your head.

PERSONALITY: 

• Free Fallers (arms out to each side): sensitive extroverts who dislike criticism, may lack control and have anxiety. Sound like anyone we know?

If your bed looks like you were kickboxing all night, no need to worry you didn't get enough sleep. Many people roll around and still attain sufficient REM sleep. Even when you are fast asleep your body knows when it needs to move.

For those who swear they don't move a muscle when sleeping and their bedsheets are crisp and untousled, you are incorrect! Studies show everyone moves two to four times per hour, about 20 or more tosses throughout the night. This is completely normal.

Can we get too much sleep? Believe it or not, the answer is yes! Studies show adults who sleep more than 9 hours, consistently, per night can increase obesity, heart disease, diabetes - pretty much all of the problems encountered in those who overeat with little to no physical activity. This does not apply to children who do need 9 hours or more every day.

If you find your back is stiff in the morning, it is a sign you have arthritis and is a very common complaint. Arthritis gets worse with immobility. So the less you move (sleeping), the greater the symptoms. This explains morning stiffness which is significantly improved once we get moving. There are a few simple stretches to help stiffness before you get out of bed. These stretches wake up your back before you put your foot on the floor. Here they are.

1. Turn off all devices and the TV. Lower the volume of your phone and place it face down.
2. Cover the windows so NO light comes through.
3. Reduce the temperature of the room and add more blankets, if needed. It takes warm hands and feet to fall asleep, but cool hands and feet to stay asleep.
4. Hydrate more during the day and less at night so you don't wake up to go to the bathroom.
5. Go to bed on a regular schedule, at the same time each night. Plan for 6 to 8 sleeping hours.
6. If you wake up and can't fall back to sleep, try reading. Calm, happy prose is better than the "page turner". A small, narrow light is much better than overhead lighting.
7. If your partner needs electronics, invest in a sleep mask. Earplugs can help if snoring is a problem.