Sleeping on your stomach may help minimize snoring and milder effects of sleep apnea, but it also has significant drawbacks. From minor issues such as indigestion to larger concerns such as neck and back pain, stomach sleeping is hard on both the mind and body.
Stomach sleeping requires you to turn your head to one side, twisting your neck and altering its natural alignment – which can result in serious neck issues.
Neck Pain
As a rule, lying flat on your stomach can be harmful for neck pain and spine strain. Sleeping this way may also exacerbate acid reflux by allowing stomach acid to leak back up into the esophagus from where they came.
Stomach sleeping can lead to neck issues as it forces your neck into an unnatural twisting motion throughout the night, which can result in sore, stiff neck muscles when you wake up, as well as contributing to herniated discs down the line if this habit continues.
Sleeping on your stomach can lead to lower back pain because your belly sinks into the mattress, placing pressure and stress on your spine. Additionally, this position can aggravate herniated discs by altering their natural curve and increasing stress on weak areas in the spine. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications like ibuprofen or acetaminophen may be effective at providing temporary relief; stretching and gentle exercises may also help keep the spine aligned.
Back Pain
Stomach sleeping can put strain on both your spine and back. Sleeping this way makes it harder to maintain an ideal neutral spine position, leading to misalignments of spinal joints that cause misalignments and pain – particularly in the lower back region.
Additionally, stomach sleepers often twist their necks to breathe, which can result in soreness and eventually serious neck conditions like herniated discs over time. This twisted neck position can compress the spinal cord containing many nerves; these compressed nerves may lead to tingling or numbness sensations in arms, legs and the belly area.
Stomach sleepers also tend to shift and jolt around during the night, which can disrupt their rest and increase risk for acid reflux and sleep apnea. Such symptoms can have serious repercussions for quality of life – for instance numbness in legs or abdomen may indicate cauda equina syndrome which involves nerve compression at the end of spinal cord leading to significant back pain as well as loss of bowel or bladder control – so the best way to avoid such issues is sleeping on side or back.
Acid Reflux
Stomach sleeping can lead to acid reflux symptoms such as burning or sour liquid in the throat and chest, regurgitation, choking and painful coughing – disrupting sleep throughout the night and potentially impacting overall wellness.
Normal digestion involves an opening in your esophagus (the tube that connects your mouth and stomach), where a muscular valve opens to let food into your stomach before closing again to prevent backflow into your esophagus. Unfortunately, with GERD this specialized muscle becomes dysfunctional, permitting food and digestive juices like hydrochloric acid from your stomach back up into your esophagus and cause digestive distress.
Sleeping on your stomach can also trigger acid reflux due to added pressure on the abdomen. As a result, this causes your mattress to sink beneath you, changing its natural alignment and leading to neck and back tension.
Stomach sleepers tend to move around more frequently during the night, which may cause discomfort and disrupt their rest. This may contribute to poor quality rest as well as chronic health conditions such as obesity or high blood pressure.
Sleep Disruption
Stomach sleeping requires twisting of the neck to breathe, creating constant neck movement that can result in sore muscles and stiff joints during a night’s rest, according to Dr. Bang. Additionally, stomach sleeping puts extra strain on shoulder joints which could eventually lead to rotator cuff issues.
Sleeping on your stomach for extended periods may also result in arm and leg numbness or tingling, due to your head weight pressing down onto your body and compressing ligaments, tendons and spinal discs. According to some studies, sleeping this way could actually accelerate degeneration of your spine over time.
Stomach sleeping generally only has one positive advantage: it may help reduce snoring and sleep apnea. Unfortunately, however, its drawbacks far outweigh this one positive aspect. Therefore, if you are an avid stomach sleeper, try switching positions such as back or side sleeping to give your body better support – stretching before and after sleeping can also improve posture, alleviate pain, strengthen muscles and ensure you wake feeling well rested!
Facial Wrinkles
Sleeping face down can be detrimental to both your neck and back, and skin health as a whole. Research suggests that this sleeping position can lead to facial wrinkles over time if used regularly for extended periods. These wrinkles differ from laugh lines or crow’s feet in that they result from mechanical compression of skin during restful slumber and are caused by mechanical distortion during mechanical compression during sleep.
Stomach sleeping (also called the prone position) can also be problematic for your spine. Resting your stomach on the mattress for prolonged periods of time puts undue strain on spinal muscles and may result in discomfort, stiffness, or lower-back pain.
It is best to modify your sleep habits if you are a stomach sleeper, though this can be more challenging if this has become part of your regular routine. A body pillow might help encourage more neutral sleeping positions that could reduce neck pain, back pain, indigestion and acid reflux symptoms; although it could take some time before this becomes second nature.
