Hey everybody its Doctor Jo, and I've got my
gang with me today. We're going to show
you the best sleeping position tips, so
let's get started.
A lot of times people
ask me what position is the best
position, but in actuality, it doesn't
really matter. Whatever is your
comfortable position, your side, your back,
or even your stomach. What's important is
that you keep your spine in a fairly
neutral position. And we have that curve
in our spine, so you want that that curve
supported in the neck area, and in the
lower lumbar area, so that's what's
important. If you're on your side, you
still want to support it a little bit, if
you've on your back you want it
supported. A lot of stuff used to be that
sleeping on your stomach was bad for you
because you had to kind of turn your
neck in a awkward position, but they're
finding out now that that really doesn't
matter unless you have a neck injury or
something going on with your neck. If you
lie on your stomach and it's comfortable,
it's okay, it's not it's not as big of a
deal as people used to think it is. So
I'm going to show you just a couple
techniques that you can do to get you in
that neutral position, get you in a
comfortable position, so you can get a
better night's sleep because when you
get a good night's sleep, then you have a
good day the next day. So starting off on
your back, what I like to do for the
curve in the lumbar area is if that
tends to flatten out when you sleep, and
then makes you have some pain, you know some
sciatic pain, or from a disc herniation
kind of thing, a simple fix is just to
roll up a sheet or a towel and put it
right where your lumbar area is going to
be. Now some people say wrap it around
your body I think that might be slightly
awkward when you're sleeping. You can put
it on top or if you move around a lot,
what I found is put it underneath your
top sheet so then it kind of stays in
place, and you have your top sheet over
it, but you might have to move it around
a little bit to find that good spot for
you. So if I'm here getting ready to
sleep on my back, I would want that roll
right there in that lumbar area, and it
doesn't have to be a lot that's the
thing it just has to be in
to support that curve. So again it might
take you a little while to figure out
what that nice spot is to get that curve,
so see where that curve is that's where
I want it, and then if it's flat even if
you then happen to roll over onto your
side, it's still getting that curve to
help you stay in that neutral position.
So just rolling up something that's soft,
not too firm, is is really nice to have
right there, and you can make it as long
as you want if you roll over a lot and
take up a lot of room, you can make it
with a sheet that's a long position, so
just having it right there, and like I
said, I like it going under the sheet
because then it tends to stay in one
spot and doesn't move around quite as
much. What I also found is really really
comfortable for people especially if
they have some back pain when they're
sleeping, if you're lying on your back,
prop up your legs just a little bit
because if you're down like this it puts
a bigger arch in your back or that curve,
but if you have your feet up a little
bit, it helps put yourself in more of a
neutral position. So if you have some
extra pillows, just prop them up here and
bring them a little bit closer to you so
everything's supported, and so sleeping
like this on your back then that makes
that pelvis in that neutral position.
This here makes that curve really nice
and then you can sleep like this. I could
probably sleep in this position all
night long even though I'm a tosser and
a turner, if I get myself in that nice
comfortable position, I won't have to
move as much, and so it's really nice to
do that as well.
So a couple pillows you want it to be
fairly high if you just want to do one
pillow, you can do that but to get you
that nice position you might need two
pillows for it. As far as sleeping on
your side, what I would recommend is the
still the little roll here to help you
with this curve, and then especially if
you have hip and knee problems, hip or
knee problems,
take the pillow and put it right here. So
what that does is on your side, it puts
your hips in a neutral position. If you
don't have the pillow, you can see my leg
goes down at an angle and that puts a
lot of pressure on the hip, so especially
those folks who've had a hip replacement
or even a knee replacement, it's a little
uncomfortable, or sometimes they feel a lot
uncomfortable, to have that pressure
going down there, so if you put the
pillow in between and lie down then you
get in that nice neutral position, and it
takes all that pressure off of your hip
and off of your knees, so they're not
banging together like that. I also really
like with side sleeping, I'm a side
sleeper, and if you're a side sleeper, I
like a pillow that just like this one
that has ear holes because if you're
like me a couple times I've woken up in
the morning, and I guess I end up
sleeping on my ear a little bit like
that, and then it's really painful the
next day. But this pillow like the Womfy
which this is, is really nice because
you can just put it right there and then
that protects that ear so then it
doesn't cause pain while you're sleeping
like that. What's also important, you can
see here, is this is high enough where
it's supporting my neck and still
keeping my neck in a neutral position, so
when you have pillows a lot of times
people want to pile up the pillows but
then their neck is in that really bad
position and putting a lot of pressure
and strain on muscles, or some people not
sleeping on pillows at all and it goes
the same way you're putting a lot of
stress and pressure on those neck
muscles which ends up, you wake up with a
headache, neck pain, and sometimes even
jaw pain. So having a good neutral
position here you can see that
everything is nice and in a neutral
position and very very very comfortable.
And also having this space right here,
then my shoulder is not getting pushed
on so much. If I have a short pillow, then
what happens is I put a lot of pressure
on my shoulder and then people have
shoulder pain, so a lot of times I've
heard people ask well I have problems
with my shoulder should I not sleep on
my side. Well as long as you have
something that keeps you up and so you
don't have all that pressure on your
shoulder, it's fine to sleep on
your shoulder.
Now also sometimes sleeping on your side
people want to get another pillow kind
of as a hug pillow, but what this does is
for the other shoulder so it doesn't
come down like this and put pressure on
it. You can just prop it up and you can
see I've made a pillow fort, but it's
very very comfortable. So as I lay my hand
here, you can see that now I don't have
any more stress on that shoulder, and
I've had a shoulder surgery, and so I
know that a lot of times if I don't have
something to support it on it becomes
very very painful in the middle night.
Now if the pillow is too much, if you're
like me who sometimes it's really hot
when I sleep, you can place your elbow on
your side here and then that will also
take the pressure off of your shoulder
as well. The pillow is probably gonna be a
little more comfortable because it's in
more of a neutral position here, but you
can also do it on your side like that as
well. So as you can see there's lots of
tips that you can use to make yourself
get comfortable while you're sleeping on
your back, on your side, on your stomach.
Sometimes I sleep on my stomach. If
you're sleeping on your stomach, you
probably don't want a pillow at all
because once you get into this position,
turning your head to the side, which most
people would do is still going to keep
it in a neutral position, so you don't
want to be up on a pillow for that one
because that would put strain on your neck.
So those positions will helpfully get
you a better night's sleep, and that is
how to sleep on your side, your back, and
your stomach. So if you like to help
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here. So be safe (get all your pillows), have
fun, and I hope you feel better soon.