A Sleep Position Primer For What Ails You

Tummy, side or back? How you lie down at night can make a big difference in how you feel in the morning.

- Marissa Laliberte

Back pain

One trick to reducing back pain is to keep your spine in its natural curve. “Lie flat on your back and place a pillow underneath your knees to keep your spine neutral. You may also place a rolled-up towel under the small of your back for added support,” says Dr Partha Pratim Bose, Delhi-based pulmonary, critical care, sleep medicine and rehabilitation specialist and founder of SAANS Foundation.

Hip pain

Whether your hip pain comes from osteoarthritis or overusing a tendon while running, the advice is the same: Lie on your back with a pillow under your knees—twisting to neither the right nor the left— and put less pressure on the hips, says Dr Priyanka Yadav, a sleep medicine specialist at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, USA. “More pressure means more pain, which could keep you from getting a good night’s sleep,” she says.

Knee pain

“A lot of knee pain can be caused by the legs touching each other,” says Dr Charles Bae, a sleep specialist at the Penn Sleep Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He recommends putting a pillow or something soft between your legs to reduce the contact.

Neck pain