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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Tonight, after a long day at work, chasing the kids around the house, getting dinner ready and trying to find a little bit of “you” time before the day is through, you will crash into your bed like a ton of bricks. Your glorious bed: so cozy, so warm, so inviting, and so delightful.
And when you lay that heavy head down to sleep, will you belly flop into bed and stay that way all night? Will you lay on your back with your arm over your head? Or will you curl up into the fetal position?
Whether you take your slumber with a side of pillow or a kink of the neck, your sleeping position holds a lot of information about your body’s needs. Melissa Putt, fascial expert and former elite runner, can decode your sleeping position, helping you to understand why you keep choosing it, and what it could be telling you about your aches and pains.
There are 4 main types of sleeping positions. Which one are you?
1. The Arm-Over-The-Head-Sleeper:
This is usually a back sleeper who reaches overhead to cup a pillow or to slide a hand under the head. Typically the arm-over-the-head sleeper will prefer one arm overhead and not the other.
If this is you, the neck is the issue. Lying on your back with one arm over head is the body’s attempt at releasing tissue tension in the neck/spine. As the arm reaches overhead it creates slack in the fascia and muscles of the neck on that side relieving tension so you feel less low grade ‘drag’ on the tissue while lying on your back.
2. The Duck Snore sleeper:
This is another back sleeper position that tells a lot about tissue tension. When lying on your back if your legs and feet want to wander outward into a duck position, this indicates a lot of tissue tension in the hip rotators. It also could be a prelude to potential back discomfort. The tension in the muscles under the gluteus (buttock) will pull the leg lateral. Eventually, this position presses the pelvis forward exaggerating low-back curve, which could lead to discomfort.
3. The Fetal Sleeper:
If you are a side sleeper with legs flexed we need to look at the low back area. Often this position with the legs pulled up to 90 degrees indicates the body’s attempt at decreasing pressure from the low back. Why one would have low-grade pressure in the lumbar area can vary widely. Your body is telling you for best sleep it wants to relieve this tension. There could be a pelvic imbalance where one side of the pelvic bone is higher or lower than the other. It could indicate stenosis and the nerve path in that area is a bit compressed. Most of the time it is simply low back muscle strain from weak posture and too much anterior curve of the daytime spine.
4. The Belly Flopper:
Do get your best z-z-z-z’s while on your front? We have been warned of this position for years but why do some of us intuitively gravitate to the belly? Fascial tension throughout the front line of the body may be the answer. In posture and alignment work we call this the ‘head start’ position. This is the person who, during the day, holds all the tension and potential energy on the balls of their feet and the front top edge of the pelvic bone. Typically the ribcage and the breastbone is forward of the pelvis held in an elongated pattern of tension. This can make the fascia and muscles of the back short and tight with tension.
When the ‘head starter’ finally retires for the day their body’s tension pattern pulls them onto their belly where they can continue the pattern of leading with ribs and hips right through the night. The biggest challenge with this sleep position is the compression it will induce on the lower back and the preferred rotation of the neck spine that it will encourage. This individual will likely have faulty posture while standing setting them up for strain and pain patterns in fitness and daily routines.
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