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A good mattress will complement this position even further - it should support the hollow of your lower back and prevent your lower torso and pelvis from sinking too deep into it. This position places your spine in a natural alignment, and you can help this even further by placing a small pillow underneath your knees to elevate them slightly. This position is actually not a very popular one-only around 8% of people do it! Make it even better: It distributes your weight evenly and puts less strain on pressure points. Bonus effects of this position include less wrinkles, but sleeping on the back may not be advisable for those with sleep apnoea. For you yogis out there, this position mimics the ‘savasana’ pose. If you like to sleep with seven pillows under your head, ditch them! If you find it hard to sleep with your head totally flat, consider elevating your whole upper body slightly with a gently sloping wedge pillow or adjustable mattress rather than tilting your head forward with pillows, as this pinches your nerves. The best position for your spine is flat on your back with a low but supportive pillow which doesn’t tilt your chin too far down into your chest. If you thought pillows were just for your head, think again! The best sleeping positions support your spine in its natural alignment, so turn yourself into a jigsaw puzzle and fill any gaps between you and the mattress with pillows for extra support. You can also use a pregnancy pillow to keep you from rolling onto your stomach! On Your Back – Savasana Therefore, it is imperative to support your back properly throughout the night. The usual advice around spine care is to move and change positions as much as possible, but since you’re literally unconscious overnight this is impossible to regulate. Ultimately feeling comfortable is going to give you the best night’s sleep, but the most important thing to consider when finding your perfect sleep posture is to keep proper alignment of your spine. Additionally, “your neck is turned in a way that locks your upper cervical vertebrae, which can cause headaches and neck problems”-yikes! How can I sleep better? This increases the pressure on your muscles, joints and organs. Whilst stomach sleeping is good for easing snoring, it is bad for pretty much everything else. In this position your core, which is the heaviest part of your body, sinks deeper into the mattress meanwhile, your head and limbs stay higher on the surface, creating a very unnatural ‘freefall’ position, like a sky diver. Hannah from our Yate clinic’s key piece of advice around sleep posture is that “sleeping on the front is a BIG no-no!”
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Sorry stomach sleepers – almost every source on sleeping positions unanimously agrees that sleeping on the stomach is “ the worst possible position you can sleep in from a musculoskeletal point of view”. Poor posture when catching the Zs can also lead to back and neck pain, fatigue, sleep apnoea, muscle cramping, impaired circulation, headaches, heartburn, digestive issues, and even premature wrinkles. Justin from our Clevedon clinic says that “poor sleep posture can not only cause restless sleep, but can strain, shorten, or tighten muscles, which in turn leads to poor support of the spine”. The spine is the pipeline for your nerves, so spinal stress can cause pain just about anywhere in your body – not what you want to wake up to! If you are sleeping in a position which doesn’t support your spine, you may be causing yourself unnecessary aches and pains. Trouble in the lumbar = trouble in the slumber. You may climb into bed doze off in your usual cosy position just fine, but comfort doesn’t necessarily equal good.
![sleeping freefall position sleeping freefall position](https://www.gaia.com/wp-content/uploads/iStock-1007305498-647x432.jpg)
Sleeping is such an integral part of the human experience that it seems odd to think there is a wrong way to do it.