About 1/3 of a person's life is spent in sleep
However, sleeping is delicate
Sleeping in the wrong position not only affects health, but also may lower the appearance!
Heard......
Sleeping on the side is easy to have a crooked face and wrinkles
Sleeping on your back is easy to snore
Sleeping on your tummy may compress your organs
So, how should you sleep best?
Let's find out today.
Even if you pose seriously before going to bed, once you fall asleep, you can never guess what position they are in the bed. When you lift the quilt, it's really called a "thousand shapes"!
(24 sleeping positions transmitted on the Internet, image source: Internet)
There are those who sleep vertically, horizontally, and obliquely, and there are also many difficult "excellent" postures: half of the body is suspended in the air, suspended against gravity (No. 19), hands raised high "surrender style" (No. 2), arms open to "let go of themselves" (No. 20), there are also heads at the end of the bed, feet at the head of the bed, directly sleep in displacement (No. 14)...
(Image source: Soogif)
In fact, each of us has our own "exclusive" sleeping position. In general, it can be divided into three mainstream schools: side sleeping school (left side sleeping, right side sleeping and curled up sleep), supine sleeping school and lying down sleeping school. According to statistics, the side sleeping party is the largest and the largest in number, accounting for about 65%; The sleeping faction accounts for 30%, and the sleeping faction is the least good, accounting for only 5% [1].
"Open bow left and right" side sleeping pie
Side sleeping is the most popular sleeping position. Sleeping on your side not only keeps your airways open, but also helps your brain health. However, one of the biggest drawbacks of sleeping on your side is that it is very easy to wrinkle.
When sleeping on your side, the face is squeezed by the pillow, and a lot of wrinkles form in the skin in areas such as the corners of the eyes. When you are young, the skin elasticity is good, and the wrinkles formed by squeezing will recover quickly, but for us who are a little older, it is a little cruel...
As we age, the skin inevitably ages: factors such as reduced subcutaneous fat and collagen loss make the skin less elastic and faster to form wrinkles that are difficult to eliminate, even permanent, and look old.
Then, the fastest and most effective way to reduce wrinkles caused by sleep is to adjust your sleeping position. We can choose the semi-lateral lying position, (the body and the bed maintain an inclination angle of 30~40°), which can not only ensure the blood circulation of the whole body, relax the body and mind, but also not squeeze the face and cause wrinkles.
"Decent" sleeping pie
(Image source: Internet)
The supine is the second most popular sleeping position and has many benefits comparable to lying on the side.
First, sleep on your back face up, no pillow or mattress pressed against your face, and no wrinkles appear. Second, when you "lie flat," keeping your head, neck, and spine in a midline and distributing your weight evenly can prevent any potential pain in your neck or back.
However, patients with sleep apnea should not adopt this sleeping position. Because the throat is relaxed when lying on the back, the tongue falls back, which can block the airway, which is dangerous for people who have difficulty breathing during sleep.
"Let go of yourself" sleeping pie
Among the many sleeping positions, sleeping on the tummy is the least healthy one. While sleeping on your tummy does have some benefits: the tummy sleeping position can help relieve snoring by opening up the airways. But for most people, sleeping on your tummy is not a suitable sleeping position. Sleeping on your tummy compresses the heart and lungs and also puts pressure on your muscles and spine.
(Image source: Soogif)
First of all, when sleeping on the stomach, the contact between the face and the pillow is larger, and wrinkles are more likely to occur. Secondly, because the weight of the body will be pressed on the chest and abdomen (girls with large breasts will really feel very uncomfortable sleeping like this, of course, Zhimei does not have such troubles... For people with heavy weight, it will not only affect breathing, but also increase the burden on the heart.
In addition, sleeping on the stomach will also make the lumbar spine convex forward, the curve of the spine will also bend, the muscles of the back will pull forward, and the invisible back muscles will be overcompressed, which is so easy to cause back pain in the long term.
Moreover, in order to keep breathing smoothly, your head must be tilted to one side, and your cervical and lumbar vertebrae have been in a twisted state in order to match the head, which may lead to scoliosis in the long run, not only not beautiful, but also may cause stubborn pain in the shoulders, back, and lower back!
Under the premise of ensuring the quality of sleep, in fact, you can sleep as much as you want. Because we will unconsciously change our sleeping position during sleep, on average about 20 times a night, the frequency will decrease slightly with age, and in general, there are more times to lie on the side.
For most healthy people, in addition to sleeping on their stomachs, sleeping on their sides or sleeping on their backs is actually not much different, but for some special people, there is indeed a special attention!
Who is suitable for sleeping on the right side?
Patients with cholecystitis, cholelithiasis
Sleeping on the right side facilitates bile excretion and prevents stone obstruction, thereby relieving severe pain.
Most people with heart disease
The vast majority of people's heart is located on the left side of the chest, sleeping to the right will make more blood flow to the right, reduce the burden on the heart, facilitate blood circulation, and increase the blood supply to various organs of the body. Conversely, both lying on the left side and lying on the back will increase the burden on the heart, so it is best for people with heart disease to sleep on the right side.
Who is suitable for sleeping on the left side?
Pregnant mothers in the second and late stages of pregnancy
When pregnant, lying on the left side can reduce the right rotation of the uterus, relieve the insufficient blood supply to the uterus, and be more conducive to supplying blood to the fetus. In addition, when fetal growth retardation occurs, lying on the left side can improve the blood circulation of the uterine placenta, increase the energy supply of the fetus, and help the fetus develop and grow.
Patients with gastroesophageal reflux
For patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease with acid reflux and heartburn symptoms, when sleeping in the right lying position, the position of the esophagus is lower than that of the stomach, which will lead to delayed gastric emptying, increased pressure in the stomach, relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter, and easy reflux. If the left decubitus position is used, the "valve" can be closed to prevent substances such as stomach acid from refluxing into the esophagus.
Patients with gallstone disease
The gallbladder is located in the upper abdomen and is shaped like a small wine bottle. When the body lies to the left side, the gallbladder "bottle mouth" is facing downward and the "bottom of the bottle" is facing upward. In this way, gallstones are prone to fall into the "bottleneck" under the action of gravity and incarceration, causing the onset of biliary colic. Therefore, people with cholelithiasis should sleep as flat or on the right side as much as possible.
Who is suitable for sleeping on their backs?
Patients with cerebral infarction
Relevant data show that more than 95% of patients with cerebral infarction are accustomed to sleeping in the lateral decubitus position in daily life, which will aggravate blood circulation disorders, especially slow down the blood flow rate in the neck, and platelets are easy to gradually accumulate at the intima of the arterial injury, and then form thrombus [2].
Patients with cervical spondylosis
In terms of cervical spine health, the best sleeping position is to lie on your back. Because the cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, and tail vertebrae have a certain curvature, lying on your back can best maintain the natural curvature of the cervical spine, which helps relieve cervical pain.
Who is suitable for tummy sleeping?
Although prone lying is a very inrecommended sleeping position, it is a very suitable sleeping position for patients with orthopedic diseases, especially spinal diseases. For example, lumbar disc herniation, lumbar spine bone hyperplasia, etc., prone lying is conducive to the relaxation of back muscles, reducing the traction and compression of the spine, so that the pain is reduced.
Sleeping position is not static. People's sleeping posture is a habit that can be consciously developed. The more important role of sleep is to relax the group and rest, and the body feels comfortable, that is, a good sleeping position.
Reviewers
Fang Lizheng丨Chief physician of the Department of General Medicine, Run Run Shaw Hospital affiliated to Zhejiang University School of Medicine
bibliography
[1]https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleeping-positions
[2]https://www.shantou.gov.cn/stswsj/gkmlpt/content/2/2104/post_2104544.html#352
Content Production
*Produced by Tencent Medical Codex Content Team