Having a good sleep is very important to our health. Normally, each adult needs at least 7 or 8 hours to sleep every night. Good quality sleep can protect your physical and mental health, improve life quality and personal safety as well.
However, it won’t just stop at the time of snoozing. Your sleeping position will also play an important role and have major impacts your overall health.
Sleeping in wrong posture may result in back and neck pain, fatigue, sleep apnea, muscle cramping, impaired circulation, headaches, heartburn, tummy troubles, and premature wrinkles.
It can be difficult to fix the sleeping time because it depends on your work and other external affairs. You may stay up late and get up early in the morning in a different time zone to other people.
However, your favorite sleeping position seems to be very consistent. Normally, everyone has their own preferential sleeping position, but not all the poses are good for your health.
If you are wondering which position is the healthiest and which one is the worst to sleep in, refer to the following ranking for more information:
The best position – Sleep on your back:
This is not a popular sleeping posture. Statistics shows that only 8% of people sleep on their back. Actually, sleeping on your back is not recommended when your are pregnant. But if you are a normal person, it is the best one, and also the healthiest option for most people.
This posture will help every part of your body to rest in a neutral position, from your head, your neck to your spine, all are in a good balance. There would be no pressure on those parts during the long sleep, so you will most likely be able to reduce pains.
Besides, sleeping on your back can even help to reduce acid reflux. All you need to remember is choosing a pillow that supports and prop your head enough. It will make your stomach and esophagus to stay in the right position, preventing food or acid from coming up your digestive tract.
This position is also good for our beauty. It can minimize wrinkles, and maintain good shape of breast because everything is balanced while sleeping.
In spite of being the best position to sleep, it has some certain disadvantages.
First of all, it is not good for snoring people. Research shows that snoring can become most frequent and severe when sleeping on your back.
Secondly, it can cause the tongue to block the breathing tube, which is very dangerous for those who are suffering from sleep apnea (breathless while sleeping).
So, don’t forget to consider your physical condition to protect your own health during the sleep.
Next best – Sleep on your side:
This position is highly recommended for pregnant women, especially sleeping on the left side. It can help to reduce acid reflux, as well as ward off back and neck pains because your spine is elongated.
Moreover, since sleeping in this position supports to open the airways, you won’t often snore anymore. And that’s also good for people experiencing sleep apnea.
Currently, there are 15% of people are sleeping in this position. It is quite good for your overall health, but there is one downside:
It’s bad for your skin and breasts. It may lead to wrinkles because half of your face would be against the pillow. This pose also contributes to breast sag because your breast is going to dangle downward, stretching the ligaments.
The perfect pillow for this position should be a thick one so that your head and your neck could be kept in neutral position.
Fetal position:
This is not an ideal sleeping position. However, it is the most popular posture with 41% of adults prefering. In this pose, you are going to lie on your side, your torso is hunched and the knees are bent.
Experts suggest that resting in too tight fetal pose can restrict breathing in your diaphragm. It can make you feel a little sore in the morning, especially if you have an arthritis in your joints or back.
But you can adjust the position a bit to make it better. Try straightening out your body as much as you can instead of tucking your chin into your chest or pulling your knees up too high.
Or you can also reduce the strain in your hips by putting a pillow between two knees.
The worst position – Sleeping on your stomach:
7% of people choose to sleep on their stomach. Although it is good for easing snoring and some cases of sleep apnea, it has some negative effects on your body.
First of all, it may lead to back and neck pain, since it’s hard for your spine to stay in a neutral position. It flattens the natural curve of the spine, and strains the neck as well.
Besides, it also puts pressure on your muscles and joints, leading to numbness, tingling, aches, and irritated nerves.
If this is your preferential position, try lying facedown to keep upper airways open instead of turning your head to one side. You can prop your forehead up on a pillow so you can have enough room to breathe.
That’s all
Above are the most popular sleeping positions for adults, ranked from the best to the worst position.
You may have your own favorite posture, but you had better care more about your health and your body, try to adjust every night sleeping position. You will see the difference!