Many health professionals and advisors have been wondering for years which is the
best and healthiest sleep position. Surprisingly, there is no simple answer to such
fundamental question. First of all, we begin our sleep in a certain body position
and usually shift to other postures as sleep evolves, either spontaneously or intentionally,
to shift our sleeping body to a comfortable position. Adults tend to change their
sleep positions quite frequently (from 11-13 changes per night
1
,
2
up to 20-45 times during a typical 8-hour night
3
). Moreover, there are significant differences between individuals in addition to
the night-to-night personal variability. Factors such as the definition of the movement,
that is, minor, subtle, or gross movements, and the impact of age, health, and comfort
contribute to the complexity of the issue of best and healthiest sleep posture.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 21, 2016
Footnotes
☆Funding: This research was not supported by any grant.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
