You may keep questioning yourself about the healthiest positions for sleeping. However, the best way to sleep would be the one in which you feel comfy and enjoy yourself.
Here I suggest you some best sleeping positions to give rest to your body and soul providing all kinds of health benefits besides making you feel fresh and rejuvenate to start a new day in your life.
No matter what position you sleep, the way your head is positioned can make a big difference in the quality of sleep you receive. Make sure your neck is well supported in a straight and forward looking position. Resting your neck at an angle or stretched or crunched too far can affect your breathing and cause neck pains
Back position
Resting on your back is one of the best positions to sleep as your head, neck, spine and body is rested in a neutral position.
Advantages
- Prevent neck pain
- Prevents back ache
- Reduces acid reflux
- Minimize wrinkles
- Maintain a good body figure
- Promotes healthy organs
Sleeping on your back flattens out your natural curves and may leave your lower back ache in the morning. Make sure you place a pillow under your legs if you sleep on your back.
Side position
Side sleeping works great for overall health and keeps spine elongated. When pregnant sleeping on to the left side helps keep heart healthy due to increase in blood circulation towards left side of the body. However, sleeping on the sides causes wrinkles on your face and also causes your breast to sag to one side and loses shape.
Place a pillow between your legs if you sleep on your side. This will support your hips and make this position more comfortable, relieve pressure on your knees and keep your hips rotating.
Sleeping on stomach
Avoid sleeping on your stomach as it is considered to be least healthy way to sleep. It’s difficult to maintain the proper position, and it is more likely to cause aches and pains as the neck is twisted and spine if forced out of alignment. If you wish to sleep on your stomach, put your pillow under your hips instead of under your head. Sleeping on your stomach can exacerbate acid reflux.
Stick to a sleep schedule
Go off to sleep and wake up at the same time everyday, that is even on the weekends, holidays and off days. Your body’s sleep-wake cycle is reinforced being consistent thus promoting better night sleep. Though there is a caveat that in case you do not fall asleep within 15 minutes then does something which relaxes you. When you get tired go back to bed. You may find it tougher to nod off in case you are struggling with falling asleep.
Pay attention to what you eat and drink
Do not try to sleep empty stomach or full stomach also. You will remain awake due to the discomfort. Also try not to drink much before going off to sleep so that you don’t have to wake up in the middle of the night for toilet. Caution is needed to be taken towards alcohol, caffeine and nicotine. Nicotine and caffeine effects takes hours to go away thus can ruin your quality sleep. Even though you start feeling sleepy consuming alcohol, it will disturb your sleep later.
Create a bedtime ritual
Every night do the same things so that your body gets the signal that it is time to sleep. Things such as taking a warm bath or shower, reading a book, or listening to soothing music with the lights dimmed can give the signal. Better sleep is promoted by activities which relaxes you thus helping in the transition from wakefulness to drowsiness. Caution in case you are using TV or any other kind of electronic device as part of your bedtime ritual. It has been suggested by some research work that screen time or media usage may probably disturbs sleep.
Get comfortable
Try to design which is sleep friendly that is most of the times which means dark and quiet. Try to use shades which darken the room, earplugs, a fun or any other devices which makes the environment suitable for you to sleep. Better sleep is promoted by your mattress and pillow also. Choose the bedding you feel to be most comfortable with. Keep it in mind that there should enough space in a bed for two people in case you share your bed with someone. If your children or pets sleeps with you then set a limit to the number of times they can do it or provide them with separate beds.
Limit daytime naps
Daytime sleeps which are long can disturb your nighttime sleep especially if you are suffering from insomnia or bad quality night sleep. Do not sleep more than 10 to 30 minutes in the daytime and do it during mid-afternoon. Though, in case you are working at nights you can make an exception to these rules. If you are working at nights then cover the windows so that the sunlight does not disturb your internal clock during the daytime.
Include physical activity in your daily routine
Daily physical activities will provide better sleep and helps in falling asleep faster and enjoying deeper sleep. Though timing is very important as exercising while it is close to bedtime can make you too energetic to go off to sleep. Being this an issue, try to exercise early in the day.
Manage stress
When you have too much work or too much thinking is done your sleep will probably suffer. Try healthy ways for managing stress to bring back peace. Try to set your priorities, organize everything and delegate tasks. Take a break when you are in need of one. Try to have a good laugh with an old friend. Write down all everything that is on your mind for tomorrow before going to bed.
