There is nothing quite like waking up in the morning after a good night’s sleep. We feel refreshed and invigorated. Ready to face the day with a bring it on attitude.
We know that sleep is essential to our wellbeing and overall health. Getting enough sleep every night—good, restful sleep—is just as important as a good diet and regular exercise.
Some of the benefits of a good night’s sleep include, but are not limited to:
- Improved productivity and concentration throughout the day
- A lower risk of gaining weight
- A lower risk of heart disease
- The ability to better regulate calories
- Increased athletic performance
- An increased capacity for emotional and social intelligence
- Less likelihood of depression
- Decreases inflammation
- Boosts your immune system
It’s a little hard to believe that simply sleeping well for 7 or 8 hours every night could do all of that, but the science is there.
Of course, the flipside of all this is that we can be harming our health if we don’t get adequate or quality sleep.
Only you can figure out how to reorganize your life in order to get adequate sleep. But maybe I can help you with the quality of your sleep.
Sleeping Positions Can Affect Your Health
Most of us have a go-to sleeping position. Back, side, or stomach, with variations to each.
The problem is, your sleep pose may impact the quality of your sleep, which, as we learned above, can ultimately impact your health.
This leads to something of a conundrum. Most of us have favored sleep poses because that’s the way we are most likely to fall asleep. Having to switch to another position may then impact the amount of sleep we get while trying to improve the quality of sleep we’re getting.
You Can Slightly Alter Your Favorite Sleep Pose so it Doesn’t Impact Your Health
That’s right. There is no need to completely give up your favorite sleep position, although you’ll likely need to alter it a little bit.
Let’s talk about 4 different sleep positions and how you can adjust them if necessary.
The Side Sleeper
We hear so much these days about the need to rid the body of toxins. Well, if you are a side sleeper, you’re doing a fine job of getting rid of them already. Science has shown that cerebrospinal fluid—that’s any fluids relating to the brain or spine—releases toxins more effectively when you are lying on your side.
But the way you’re lying down needs to be correct. Remember, you want to improve your sleep, and by extension, your overall health. The wrong position can work against you.
In this case, the solution is fairly easy.
Align your neck and back: try using a pillow designed to align your neck and back, like Dosaze, as a solution to the side sleep position. Using this pillow will help maintain the proper curvature of your spine.
You will also want to include a pillow between your knees to help align your pelvis.
Here are a few of the benefits of sleeping on your side.
- Whether you sleep on the right or the left side, this sleeping pose helps reduce headaches and also decreases the risk of getting either Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s diseases.
- Sleeping on the left side can help those with digestive issues, however, it can also put pressure on the liver.
- Sleeping on the right side can aid those with high blood pressure or problems with blood circulation and will reduce the pressure on the heart.
The Back Sleeper
This is the best sleep position for anyone who has spine or joint problems. It’s also beneficial for those who have heartburn and anyone who has reached a point in life where they are concerned about wrinkles.
Sleeping on your back can also be advantageous for anyone who suffers from neck pain. But again, you need to ensure you’re in the right position.
How to achieve that:
- Keep your head in place: Use a pillow like Dosaze, whose contour is designed to cradle the natural curvature of your neck as a solution if you sleep on your back.
- You’ll also want to add a pillow under your knees. This helps to raise them above your pelvis, alleviating stress to the lower back.
Finally, sleeping on your back is beneficial to your internal organs as you not putting pressure on them as you sleep.
The Stomach Sleeper
if you are a stomach sleeper, you’ve probably heard of several of the negatives involved in this position. However, it’s not all bad.
First of all, there are a few things you can do to mitigate some of the issues caused by stomach sleeping.
- Place a pillow under your lower abdomen and pelvis so that the small of your back is not inclined to bend forward.
- Use the thinnest pillow you can find
So, what are the benefits of sleeping on your stomach?
Yes, there are a few. Japanese researchers have found that those who sleep in this position are able to reduce their blood pressure. This is also a great sleep position for anyone who snores, as it will help get rid of the problem.
The Fetal Position
This is one of the most common sleeping positions. More than 40% of adults sleep this way, with women being twice as likely to favor this position than men.
While this precision is comfortable, it can have an impact on back health. Because your spine is curved, you limit the ability to breathe deeply through your diaphragm. While this does have the advantage of reducing snoring and other breathing issues like asthma, some say that this position should be avoided altogether.
However, as with the other positions we talked about, there are some alterations you can do if this is your favorite sleep position.
- Straighten your back a bit, which will open up the chest area and free up your breathing.
- Change the position of your arms and legs and add a few pillows. Put a soft pillow between your legs and another one between your elbows.
- Under your head, you’ll want to be sure to use a pillow that can support your neck.
Sleep is imperative to our survival.
And the amount and quality of our sleep can impact our health or impact our ability to function during the day.
Fortunately, in most cases, none of us need to completely abandon our favorite sleep positions for better health. All that may be necessary is a proper pillow and a slight alteration of our positions.
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