Whenever I make those skin-crawling lists of things I’m good at, the thing at the top spot is always the same: I’m really good at sleeping. I can drop off quickly, don’t require an eye mask, and usually slumber straight through until morning. It requires little skill, but I’m very happy with it. Or I was until I became pregnant. Gone were my restful nights. Instead, I tossed and turned every 45 minutes, negotiating with two bad hips.
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I replaced my mattress, swapping a 10-year-old friend for a Simba hybrid one. Immediately my sleep quality improved, but I still hadn’t returned to my pre-pregnancy levels of kip. It must, I decided, have something to do with the odd contortions I found myself lying in. And so, down the internet rabbit hole of “best sleep positions” I went, in an effort to separate myth from reality. Here’s what I gleaned from the experts.
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Find what’s comfortable first
For a start, there’s no such thing as the “best” way to sleep. There are, however, many good options depending on what you need. “For most people, the most important thing is finding a position that’s comfortable and allows you to sleep through the night without pain or repeated waking,” Dr Clare Rooms, insomnia service lead at Boots Online Doctor, explains to British . Rooms says factors such as age, body shape, existing musculoskeletal problems, pregnancy, reflux and conditions like obstructive sleep apnoea all play a contributing role, too.
“I’d actually pay more attention to how you feel when you wake up than trying to police your position at bedtime,” Lisa Artis, deputy CEO at the Sleep Charity, explains. “If you’re regularly waking up with a stiff neck, sore shoulders or feeling as though you’ve been fidgeting all night, that’s a much better clue that your sleep position or set-up needs a rethink.”
Consider your environment
Sleeping well stretches beyond magnesium spray – though it does play an important role in my personal pre-bed routine. Artis describes your pillow and mattress as the “supporting cast” to the successful production that is a good night’s sleep. If they’re not doing their job, she says, your body has to compensate for that: “A pillow that’s too high or too low can leave your head and neck out of alignment with the rest of your body, while the wrong mattress can create pressure points or leave you feeling as though you’re sinking too much into it.”
Her advice is to find a pillow that “fills the space” between your head and mattress without pushing it up or letting it drop down. Your mattress, she says, should “feel supportive without feeling like you’re lying on a board”.
Having slept on a once very comfortable but ageing mattress, I swapped to one that would better support my aching joints. The Hybrid Ultra Mattress was the right choice, mostly for how it supports the hips and shoulders – the two areas that take the most weight when you lie down. The other thing was abandoning a second pillow and taking my neck from a slanted angle to a lower one.
If you can, turn to the side
Side sleeping is often touted as the key to combating snoring and sleep apnoea, because of the way it opens up your airways. “Sleeping on your back can make the airway more likely to narrow or become blocked,” Rooms explains. “Sleeping on your side may help reduce airway obstruction for some people.”
There are benefits to side sleeping for non-sleep apnoeic people, too. Sleeping on your left side, for example, can help people with gastro-oesophageal reflux, Dr Oliver Bernath, a consultant neurologist and sleep disorder specialist at Reborne Longevity, tells me. Back (or prone) sleeping can cause the tongue to drop further back and the mouth to open as the jaw drops back, all of which narrow the airway. This, he says, becomes worse in REM sleep when the muscles relax even more.
Rooms is emphatic that appropriate assessment and treatment are non-negotiables for any sleep obstructive conditions. “If someone regularly snores loudly, wakes up choking or gasping, has pauses in breathing during sleep that are noticed by a partner or someone else, or feels excessively sleepy during the day, they should speak to their GP.” Sleep apnoea, she says, is treatable and getting the right diagnosis and treatment is much more important than simply trying to find the “perfect” position.
Stomach sleeping isn’t categorically terrible
My post-pregnancy dream is to sleep on my stomach. Star-fished, neck cricked to the side, it holds the same appeal as an obnoxiously large glass of wine. “If you sleep comfortably on your stomach and wake up feeling well, there isn’t necessarily a reason to change it,” says Rooms. “However, sleeping on your stomach can place your neck in a rotated position for prolonged periods, and can sometimes put additional strain on the neck, shoulders and lower back. This may be more noticeable over time or if you already have an underlying musculoskeletal problem.”
Situations in which it’s absolutely not recommended are during late pregnancy (side sleeping is the order of the day), or if you consistently wake up with neck or back pain, numbness or stiffness.
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