According to research, over seven percent of people sleep on their stomachs, but this position can lead to unnecessary back and neck pain without sleeping with a firm mattress.
Stomach sleeping disrupts your natural spine’s curve, flattening and twisting it over time – this can lead to backache and other health complications in pregnant women as well.
Back pain
Stomach sleeping displaces your spine and neck out of alignment, twisting your neck. Over time, this can lead to neck problems like herniated discs – when gelatinous disks between vertebrae rupture, irritating nerves in the area – and cause pain or stiffness in shoulders when breathing while you move your head while on your stomach.
Reduce the risk of back problems associated with stomach sleeping by switching up your pillow setup. Instead, place a slim pillow beneath your pelvis so as to maintain neutral spine alignment while simultaneously lifting your lower back to relieve strain on its joints and spine.
Sleeping on your stomach can also be hard on your hips and pelvis, as the area gets pushed downward into the mattress. To alleviate this pressure, place a pillow or roll of towel under each knee – this will take pressure off of your pelvis while maintaining a neutral spine posture throughout the night.
Bottom line, stomach sleeping may help reduce snoring and decrease sleep apnea; however, it can have adverse effects on your back and neck. Therefore, try switching to side or back sleeping to alleviate pain or stiffness throughout the day.
Wrinkles
At stomach sleeping can cause more than just neck and snoring issues; there’s also wrinkles. According to Dr. Wexler, when sleeping this way your face smashes against the pillow all night, leaving behind wrinkles around mouth and eyes as well as creating fine lines around mouth and eyes that create creases and lines around mouth and eyes. Plus, stomach sleeping forces one or both arms underneath their pillow putting extra tension on shoulder joints which may lead to rotator cuff issues or other shoulder injuries.
According to a viral TikTok video, there’s good news if you want to rid yourself of those pesky sleep wrinkles: simple exercises could be all it takes! In most cases though, simply adjusting their pillows could prevent further wrinkles.
Stomach sleepers should use a thin pillow or blanket to prevent their heads from raising too high off of the mattress, helping avoid crushing their faces against it all night long and keeping their neck closer in line with the spine to avoid strain on both. Furthermore, stomach sleepers who find their mattress too soft should consider placing one under their hips and pelvis to help elevate them while simultaneously aligning their spine properly – an approach which may also aid spinal alignment.
Pregnancy
Sleeping on one’s stomach during early stages of gestation – known as the first trimester – may be suitable. But once pregnancy progresses past that stage, this position should not be maintained as sleeping this way may irritate a pregnant woman’s digestive tract and increase risk for heartburn; additionally it puts strain on her uterus and reduces blood flow to it.
Stomach sleeping can place considerable strain on both your neck and spine. Sleeping on one’s stomach forces them to tilt their head to one side, twisting your neck over time and leading to shoulder and arm aches and pains over time. Furthermore, sleeping this way creates a rounded posture which compresses inferior vena cava (IVC) vessels and may lead to herniated discs in your spine.
Sleeping on one’s stomach increases the risk of preterm birth and may make breathing harder; healthcare professionals advise pregnant women to sleep on their left side instead. This keeps pressure off liver, uterus and major blood vessels while improving circulation to both fetus and kidneys – and using a pregnancy pillow will ensure you remain in the safest sleeping position during gestation.
Snoring
Stomach sleeping (also known as the prone position) keeps airways open and may help reduce snoring and milder forms of sleep apnea, as well as help manage acid reflux or alleviate digestive issues like constipation. Unfortunately, however, this position may not be healthy for your back and neck.
As stomach sleepers tend to keep their heads tilted in an unnatural manner, this can throw off your spine’s natural alignment and increase back pain and blood flow to other parts of the body. You can alleviate stomach sleep-induced back pain by placing a pillow under your hips and pelvis – this will bring your spine closer to neutral position, alleviating lower back discomfort when sleeping on your belly.
Change can be daunting when transitioning from sleeping on your stomach, so to help the transition easier try sleeping on a sofa or loveseat before going to bed. Sleeping this way will force you onto your side more gradually before permanently switching positions. Add thick pillows for support to further prop yourself onto the side while selecting ones made of comfortable materials to avoid overheating while you rest.
