Is It Okay to Sleep on Your Side? The Right Sleeping Position

Hello. We are Merry Plastic Surgery Clinic, pursuing natural and beautiful changes.

In modern society, stress arises for various reasons, and stress is also known to be the root cause of many illnesses.

To manage it, mind control is important, but it is also closely related to daily life.

There is even a saying that a healthy mind lives in a healthy body, so maintaining regular sleep schedules, exercise, and diet is important.

In particular, one of the things that is difficult to achieve sufficiently in modern times is sleep—deep, restful sleep.

While sleeping, the body can recover from fatigue through rest, and regeneration and recovery also take place, so high-quality sleep is an important factor.

Unfortunately, South Korea is said to record very short sleep durations among OECD countries.

There may be various reasons for especially poor sleep, but after looking into why people cannot sleep deeply even when lying down, it is said that sleeping posture and pillow height determine the quality of restful sleep.

At this point, many people may think the correct sleeping position must always be lying flat on the back.

Today, let’s take a look at the proper sleeping position.

The Proper Sleeping Position

Lying on Your Back

When people talk about the proper sleeping position, they may think that sleeping on your back is important.

In fact, for people with lower back or neck pain, lying on their back is important.

Because the spine is aligned properly and serves to support the whole body, it is said to support the neck and lower back and reduce pain.

Also, for those who are concerned about chronic lower back or neck pain, pillow height is important as well.

If the pillow is too high, it can strain the cervical discs in the neck, so it is better to choose a low pillow.

Sleeping on Your Side

One reason people talk about proper sleeping positions is that many prefer sleeping on their side.

However, sleeping on your side can also be the right sleeping position depending on the person.

For example, in the case of pregnant women, lying on the back can create pressure on the inferior vena cava, which returns blood from the uterus to the heart, and also place a burden on weight load, so sleeping on the side can be helpful.

There are also research findings that better blood flow may benefit the umbilical cord connected to the placenta and the fetus.

Also, for those worried about acid reflux such as reflux esophagitis, sleeping on the side can be considered the proper sleeping position.

At that time, when lying on the left side, the stomach is positioned lower than the esophagus, so it can help prevent the backflow of gastric acid.

On the other hand, if you lie on the opposite side, the stomach sits higher, which may promote reflux, so caution is needed.

Sleeping on the left side can also help other organs.

This is because the heart, which sends blood, as well as the pancreas, which secretes digestive enzymes, are located on the left side.

It is said that blood flow, hormone secretion, and other functions can proceed more smoothly, and the burden on the organs can be reduced.

To sleep on your side like this, even a pillow that is too low can strain the cervical spine.

It is recommended to choose a pillow height of about 7–10 cm, and it is better to be careful because curling up too much or assuming a compressed posture can instead strain the body and shoulders.

Sleeping Face Down

Lastly, one sleeping posture that is sometimes mentioned as a proper sleeping position is sleeping face down.

This posture is not recommended because it puts pressure on the muscles and joints, and the head must turn to one side to breathe, which can burden the shoulders and arms.

Also, if pressure on one side of the facial muscles continues, it can lead to facial asymmetry, so special caution is needed.

However, for people who snore heavily or have sleep apnea, when they lie on their back, gravity can cause the tongue to fall back, block the airway, and make snoring worse, so in such cases it may be helpful.

While keeping the airway open can make breathing smoother, we recommended getting help from a clinic or similar place and trying to maintain a back-sleeping position in order to reduce other breathing problems or physical strain.

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