You probably already know that falling asleep in a funky position can leave you feeling sore the next morning, but your sleeping position can reflect your overall health and even your ability to breathe easily at night. Luckily, you can optimize your sleep posture by making small adjustments to support your spine and neck, open your airways, and help you wake up feeling well-rested.
So, what is the “best” sleeping position to get you there? It’s a tricky (if not impossible) question to answer, since everyone’s body, health, and preferences are different. But according to Jennifer Martin, PhD, spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and professor at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University, what’s best for you hinges mostly on two factors: what position allows you to breathe easily, and what position is the most physically comfortable for your body.
“It’s pretty individualized,” Martin says. “Not everyone is comfortable in the same position.”
What’s more, the “best” sleeping position can change throughout a lifetime and will balance your body’s needs. For example, shoulder pain sometimes becomes a problem during side sleeping as people get older, which can conflict with the common advice that people with sleep apnea should avoid sleeping on their backs, according to Dr. David McCarty, MD, FAASM, chief medical officer of Rebis, a sleep medicine clinic. And while stomach sleeping is often considered the position that causes the most neck and back strain, its many people’s go-to position that gets them to fall sleep fast.
