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I have only my own body and anecdotes to go on so they may not fit you. I have always slept on my side or almost stomach. One reason is when I sleep on my back
by tokyodude 8y ago
I have only my own body and anecdotes to go on so they may not fit you.
I have always slept on my side or almost stomach. One reason is when I sleep on my back I often get the night terrors (not sure the proper term). It's a thing where my mind snaps awake but not my body and it's as though I'm paralyzed. I hate that so that's one reason I don't sleep in my back.
The other is like you I don't fall asleep easily in my back.
About 10 years ago I got a tempurpedic memory foam mattress and suddenly I could sleep in my back.
After 2 years or so though i got rid of that mattress. it was too hot and it hurt my back in other ways. Something happened to my back such that sleeping on my back will often trigger severe pain that doesn't happen on my side.
one other thing I found is soft beds kill my back. it's a different kind of pain from the severe pain mentioned above. More like all my bones hurt at the joints when I wake up after sleeping on a soft bed. If I'm at a hotel and the bed is too soft I either have to sleep right on the edge of the mattress where it's stiffest or just sleep in the floor.
so recommendation number one. try different mattresses
the other thing that helped my back tremendously is excercise. I can't stress that enough. If I'm lazy and don't excercise for 8-12 days the pain comes back.
no idea if that was helpful.
- lawlorino 8y ago> It's a thing where my mind snaps awake but not my body and it's as though I'm paralyzed This is called Sleep Paralysis and it's pretty horrible to experience. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis
- snarfy 8y agoIt can also be a pretty awesome experience. For about two months I experienced it as a teenager. Initially it was terrifying, but after about two weeks it morphed into out of body experiences, which were amazing. It was like a combined sleep paralysis with lucid dreaming.
- vekker 8y agoSleep paralysis is only horrible when your mind makes it so. The sudden experience of not being able to move makes people panic, and that panic then snowballs into terrible hallucinations. If you know it is just your own mind you are witnessing, then you can steer the experience.
- kennxfl 8y agoThe key is to not fight it or keep forcing your body to move. The best move is to relax, go back to sleep, then attempt waking up at some other point. I have experienced headaches after forcing my body to move during that paralysis phase.
- jpamata 8y agoThe term is sleep paralysis. It's why I rarely sleep on my back as well, for some reason I'm also more prone to suffer from it when I sleep on my side.
- cimmanom 8y agoSleeping on your back with the pillow in a position to put pressure on your upper neck apparently contributes to sleep paralysis. Shifting the pillow lower on your neck can help.
- kennxfl 8y agoThe common contributing factors I know are heavy meals before sleep, prolonged lack of sleep, inconsistent sleeping patterns and stress. But its true, the paralysis always happens when sleeping on the back.