Everybody knows that sleep is affecting your health and life. If you sleep 8 hours a day, you spend one third of your life in the bed! Isn’t that a crazy fact? Therefore, getting a good quality of sleep is crucial! However, many people struggle with getting good sleep. Have you felt tired or stiff when you wake up? Sleeping posture affects your muscular health and it is very important to know how to sleep well! Do you know how you sleep every night? Do you know what the best way is to sleep?
Let’s look at figure 1- fetal position:
As you can see, your abdominal muscles are shortened as well as the chest muscles. If you sleep with this position for 8 hours, your abdominal muscles get tight, which causes lower back pain. Also, tight chest muscles pull your shoulders forward, sloughing your posture. We already do a lot of activities during the day to shorten our chest, such as using a computer, driving a car, or cooking, so you want to avoid tightening your chest when you are in bed. Do you sleep in a cold room? You often want to sleep in fetal position when it is cold. Make sure you set the right temperature on your thermostat or wear enough clothes to keep you warm.
How about figure 2? – sleeping on your stomach:
With this position, you have to turn your head to one side. Can you imagine how stiff your neck will be in the morning? Also, your calf muscles get tight as well. Ladies, do you wear heels? If you wear heels all day AND sleep on your stomach, your calves are shortened for a long period of time, which can cause foot pain or plantar fasciitis. Sleeping on your stomach is not a good idea.
Now let’s talk about a good sleeping posture. Ideally, you want to have your body as neutral as possible, so no muscles are extremely shortened or stretched overnight.
Take a look at the figure 3- sleeping on your side with support:
When you sleep on your side, you want to put a pillow between your knees so that your hip won’t be over-contracted or stretched, which decreases stress on your lower back. Also, if you can have another pillow in front of you to put your arm on, that can prevent from having a tight chest.
Look at the figure 4- sleeping on your back with pillow under your neck and knees:
Back Sleeping with Support
It is easier to have a neutral position when you sleep on your back. Just be sure to use good support.
Having a good sleeping posture affects not only a quality of sleep, but also muscle health. Getting good sleep gives you energy throughout the day that will make you more productive. A little change in your sleeping posture can give better sleep and less pain in your muscles, so why not try today?
For more information about the posture (sleeping, standing , or sitting) please contact at 927-9689.
