You spend about a third of your life sleeping. Your posture as you sleep is as important as your posture while you are awake. Sit, stand, or sleep with good posture and you will feel great. Poor posture while sleeping or wide-awake will lead to unnecessary backaches, pain, stiffness and dysfunction. Sleeping well is essential to your spinal health and overall wellness.

Sleep Ergonomics

“Sleep ergonomics” refers to your postures and positions while you sleep. Proper sleep ergonomics focus on resting with joints in a safe mechanical position. Improper sleep ergonomics places unnecessary stress on joints in a way that promotes aches, pains and poor overall health.

Various sleeping positions place different amounts of pressure on your back. Sleeping on your back produces the least amount of pressure while sleeping on your side puts a moderate amount of pressure on your back. Snoozing on your stomach puts the most pressure on your back.

Use pillows to improve your sleep ergonomics. If you sleep on your back, place pillows under your neck and knees to maintain good sleeping posture. Put a pillow between your ear and the mattress, and another one between your knees, if you sleep on your side. If you must sleep on your stomach, keep your head in an aligned position with a small pillow.

A firm mattress provides optimal back support and alignment, especially if you sleep on your stomach. Convoluted foam mattresses are comfortable and provide good support. The surfaces of these mattresses resemble an egg carton and feel soft but resilient to your touch.

Most mattresses have a lifespan of 8 – 10 years. Replace your worn out mattress promptly to improve the quality of your sleep. Before you purchase a mattress, always try it out to make sure it is comfortable. You may find specialty memory foams hot or uncomfortable. Coil count does not necessarily indicate whether the mattress will provide proper sleep ergonomics.