Do you often wake up with neck pain or back ache in the morning? While there may be other underlying conditions behind muscular pain, it could be due to a poor sleeping posture too. Posture is not only important in your waking life, but also while you are asleep. A good posture can aid in better quality sleep as it helps relax your muscles so that you can feel refreshed in the morning without any aches and pains. (Also read: Mental health benefits of sleeping with your pet)
One of the best sleeping positions that experts suggest is fetal position where you literally sleep like a baby (in the womb) with bent legs curled in. This position helps in reducing snoring and alleviate lower back pain. Also, sleeping on your side, as your grandmother may also suggest, could actually be a good position. Especially if you have had a heavy meal in dinner, sleeping on your left side could be helpful as it may help in digestion and prevent acidity and heartburn. However, one must be careful enough to not put pressure on shoulders and jaws.
Dr Karthick Dhayalan, MBBS. MS (Ortho), Consultant, Orthopeadic Surgeon, Prasanth Hospital says cradling position where you bend your upper thorax (chest) and bend your knees is the best sleeping position as it helps reduce the pressure on the back.
Sleeping while lying on your stomach is the worst sleeping position as per experts and could lead to extra strain on your muscles and joints. Sleeping in this position will make you feel very dull in the morning.
“Positions like freefall (lying down on your stomach) usually leads to low back and neck pain. We also need to avoid using a stiff pillow and try sleeping on the side. Soldier position or sleeping on flat back is equally harmful as it causes snoring, carotid artery problems, sleep apnea, shallow breathing among others,” says Dr Dhayalan.
One must choose the ideal sleeping position for them depending on the health conditions they have.
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