“Is sleeping on your back better for your health?”
My 11 year old son sleeps on his side and always has grogginess and neck pain.
3 Answers
SleepMedicineSpecialistSleepMedicineSpecialist
It is better to sleep on your back or sides rather than sleeping on your stomach. Sleeping on your stomach can sometimes cause more back pain. Sleeping on his side with improper neck position (too many pillows) could cause neck pain. Grogginess in am should not be a result of sleep position and should be evaluated further.
Sleep position is a matter of preference as well as dictated by physical symptoms while in bed. Laying on your back is bad for people with sleep apnea, severe gastric reflux disease and heart failure. However, for a healthy individual position does not matter in short term, in the long term, sleeping without the proper spine alignment may lead to early spine degenerative disease.
Dr. Nara
Dr. Nara