As I type this, we’re enduring that rare thing in the UK: a heatwave. It makes life uncomfortable by day and unbearable by night. It also makes you acutely aware of your sleeping position, as you toss one minute and turn the next. It begs the question: is there an optimum sleeping position to maximise shut-eye?
There is. But it’s not easy to find out. You might vaguely remember lying on your left side when dreams of John Craven presenting Newsround flowed through your head, but there’s no way we know exactly what position we slept in without the use of a camera.
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Or, in the case of the “Blanket Accommodative Sleep Posture Classification System”, a set of infra-red depth cameras that can detect a person’s sleeping position through the thickest of blankets. The BASPCS is a proposed framework developed by Hong Kong researchers to categorise sleep positions and better answer a range of both clinical and commercial questions, like what is the cause of back pain? And how does pillow depth impact spine alignment? It’s a work in progress.
Unlike research out of Denmark where the scientists attached small motion-sensor detectors to subjects’ thighs, upper back and upper arms before they fell asleep. They discovered that the participants spent over half their bedtime on their sides, around 38% on their backs and 7% on their front.
What's the best position to sleep in?
So, sleeping on the side is the most natural position with the least natural on the front. And that’s a good thing according to James Leinhardt of Manchester-based outfit Levitex. Levitex offer a range of pillows, mattresses and advice to optimise users’ sleep through better positioning. For Leinhardt, sleeping on your front is a big no, no.
Why is sleeping on your front bad for your health?
“It has a terrible impact on your spine health and affects your overall sleep quality,” he says, “especially when daytime postures might be poor, like if you’re working in front of a computer all day.”
Levitex work with all walks of life including Tour de France riders. As an example of what they offer, Levitex sell foam pillows that come in four different sizes: small (8cm deep), medium (10cm), large (12cm) and 14cm (extra large).
“No one pillow size fits all,” says Leinhardt, of which we’re sure any of you who’ve endured hotel pillows that leave your head at 90° would heartily agree. “We would match the Tour rider with a pillow based on their individual shape and size, taking into account the position they tend to sleep in most. For any athlete we work with that do sleep on their front, we give them the tools to transition to a more optimal lying position.”
If you think you are a tummy sleeper, those tools include giving the following a try for 20 minutes a night until you eventually fall asleep on your side: alternate the side you sleep on or side of your face that touches the pillow as experimenting is key; if you cross one of your legs across the other, try putting a pillow between your knees and ankles to force your hips into alignment. Ultimately, this will help your future side-sleeper ambitions; if you’re still struggling, grab another pillow and hug it in front of you. This will stop you rolling to your front at night.
Why sleeping on your side is best
So, on the front is bad, while on the sides and back is good. Why? Well, on your side has been shown to be best for most health conditions, including sleep apnoea and reducing the likelihood – or anti-social severity! – of snoring. That’s due to reducing the impact of gravity on the airways that you experience when you’re lying on your back. On the positive, lying on your back’s been shown to keep your spine aligned, so is good for preventing back issues while reducing pressure on the joints.
Why women shouldn't sleep on their backs if they're pregnant
However, sleeping on your back is most definitely not recommended if you’re pregnant. The Midlands and Norh of England Stillbirth Study (MiNESS) of 2017 revealed that women who slept in the supine (lying-on-back) position had a 2.3-fold increased risk of late stillbirth (after 28 weeks’ gestation) compared to women who fell asleep on their side.
Why sleeping on their back is so risky for pregnant women is due to the weight of the uterus, which compresses major blood vessels. In turn, bloodflow and oxygen to the foetus is reduced, leading to potential difficulties for both baby and mother. The safest position is once again to sleep on your side, either left or right.
