WORLD SLEEP DAY: Expert reveals the benefits to sleeping on your side, including stopping snoring and better digestion

With general well-being and health being a top priority for people in recent years, sleep expert Kiera Pritchard from Eachnight.com reveals the biggest health benefits to sleeping on your side. 

Reduced Snoring

Perhaps the biggest advantage to sleeping on your side instead of your back is that side sleeping can prevent snoring. Back sleeping can often lead to worsened snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. Your jaw, tongue, and other soft tissues collapse in your throat when you lie on your back. The collapsed soft tissue narrows your airway and makes breathing more difficult, thus resulting in snoring.

Stomach sleeping can also reduce snoring and sleep apnea, however, it can obstruct breathing in other ways. Those who sleep on their stomach often misalign their cervical spine due to having to twist their necks to the side to breathe.

Prevention of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea, when untreated, has been linked to multiple health issues, including:

• High blood pressure
• Acid reflux
• Weight gain
• Type 2 diabetes
• Heart disease
• Asthma

Through side sleeping, you can significantly reduce your chances of having obstructive sleep apnea.

Aids Digestion

Sleeping on your side prevents stomach acid from rising and holds stomach contents in place better than back or stomach sleeping. When you lie flat on your front or back, your stomach’s acid can flow up your oesophagus, causing damage. However, lying on your side ensures gravity will keep your stomach acid from flowing upward. Digestive issues side sleeping can prevent or manage include heartburn and acid reflux.

Clears Out Brain Toxins

Your body has a waste system known as the glymphatic system. Its job is to clear out any waste in the brain and may also help deliver compounds such as glucose, lipids, amino acids, and neurotransmitters.

Your sleep position can influence its effectiveness. The system operates more efficiently when you lie on your side than on your back or front. A 2015 study speculated that may be part of the reason side sleeping is the most popular position.

Scientists have suggested that its waste disposal function may play a key role in preventing neurodegenerative diseases – for example, Alzheimer’s disease is linked to the pile up of proteins in the brain.

Are there any cons to sleeping on your side? 

Whilst side sleeping offers numerous health benefits, there are some downsides to the sleeping position. Side sleeping has the potential to lead to bad posture as a result of twisting your body too far and shifting your spine from its natural alignment. To combat this, using extra pillows can help as a sleep aid. Knee pillows and body pillows are also useful to keep your body in place.

What are the best aids for side sleeping?

Choosing the right mattress is really important for side sleepers due to the aforementioned risk of bad posture. Memory foam mattresses have one of the best materials for pressure relief. A memory foam mattress for side sleeping can provide mornings free of aches and pains. They are also one of the most affordable types of beds on the market, making them the perfect choice for those who sleep on their side.

For side sleepers, the best pillows to use will be ones that have a high loft between four to six inches. If a pillow is too low or too high, there is a risk that your neck muscles may strain as a result of supporting your head.

Further information can be found at ww2.eachnight.com who provided the expert commentary.