Sleeping in Great Posture

Not a week goes by in my office where at least one patient asks "What position should I sleep in?" or "Do you think I could be sore because of the way I sleep?" Making sure we support our healthy actions with healthy habits is a great way to stay well. Just like exercising while maintaining a poor diet won't help us reach our ideal body size, sitting in great posture all day while sleeping tangled up won't provide us with stable and strong spines.

We spend about 1/3 of our time in bed sleeping. Having a great bed is only the start to a great restorative night's rest. We have to know how to use it properly. If I made you sit at your desk for 8 hours in the position you slept in last night and you know you would be uncomfortable, it might be time to think about change. Sleep is meant to be the time where your body repairs and restores itself. It is a necessary component to life and healthy sleep habits contribute to our overall health in many ways.

The four main positions, from favorite to least favorite, are back sleeping, side sleeping, modified side sleeping and stomach sleeping. Back sleeping is the posture most similar to proper standing posture and therefore the best for the proper alignment of your body and spine. Sleeping in this posture is great for most individuals. Use a smaller pillow to keep the head in a neutral posture. Some people, especially my curvier patients with firmer beds like a pillow under their knees to open and relax the lower spine.

Second is the side sleeping posture. I believe this is the most popular position as well as the most incorrectly performed. We need to do a bit more work to keep the spine lined up properly when we are laying on our side. Your hips are wider than your knees so putting a pillow between your knees is necessary to support the lower spine through the night. Arms should be in front of your body or at your sides, not under your head. Again, imagine having to hold them that way at work all day. You can kill two birds with one stone and choose a body pillow to hug and keep between your knees. Your head pillow should be thick enough to keep your head midline, not tilted toward or away from the bed.

Let's jump to my least favorite position, stomach sleeping. In order to breathe while sleeping on your stomach you have to turn your head to the side. This posture pulls and strains the muscles on the side of the neck and down into the shoulders. I liken this to an office worker putting their computer monitor over their shoulder instead of in front of themselves and working the day. You don't have to actually do this for a day to realize that you would be stiff and sore from the constant unnecessary strain. Not the ideal position for repair and restoration. For patients who are long term devout stomach sleepers I offer the modified-side sleep position. This posture turns the body 45 degrees off stomach sleeping by putting a large pillow under the shoulder and hip one side of the body. This position is very similar to side sleeping, but the head pillow is only under the back of the head so the head is not twisted while allowing you to breathe.

Sleeping a few hours in the correct position is better than none. Keep in mind making the transition to a better posture will take time. If you are able to sleep in a new better position for only half the night, that is great, only half the stress on your spine. There are not many easier ways to cut stress in half!


By Dr. Jill Aardema