No matter what your go-to sleep position is, tossing and turning without adequate support during the night can have a serious impact on your body, whether it’s a stiff neck or an aching back.
Sleeping on your side can leave you susceptible to shoulder, neck and back pain as your entire body weight leans on one side for hours, creating misalignment and sore joints the next morning.
While it may seem like the simple solution to just force yourself to fall asleep on your back, turning over in the night can be inevitable.
Fear not, side sleepers, this could be the solution.
Kyle, a registered massage therapist and holistic health expert with nearly 100,000 fans on TikTok shared the “healthiest way to sleep” that may seem like a bizarre position but could actually save your spine and shoulders.
He demonstrates having four pillows to keep you comfy and keep your body stable as you snooze.
One pillow between the knees to support your knees and hips, one pillow at your front for your shoulders, one pillow behind to support your back and of course “a nice thick pillow for the head and neck.”
While your partner may not appreciate you hogging multiple pillows to surround yourself as you sleep, this supportive trick could improve your joint health significantly.
But for those side-sleepers who are willing to take drastic action in order to improve your body’s support while you sleep, Kyle highly recommends “learning to sleep like this.”
On your back with a pillow under the knees to take pressure off your lower back and a pillow either side of your head, “so your neck is supported whatever way you turn.”
He even adds that sleeping like that can prevent wrinkles, another bonus to learning to sleep on your back.
“You will wake up feeling well rested and amazing,” he said.
As for people who sleep on their stomach, this is a big no-no. It can cause a huge amount of stress on your spine and back.
But if you just can't nod-off if you're not face down, try using no pillow under your head and instead place a pillow under your lower abdomen to straighten your spine and keep your back pain-free.
