Many chiropractors and sleep experts are in agreement when it comes to the worst sleeping position: It’s the stomach.
Not many people sleep on their stomachs—only about 7 percent of adults choose this position, according to News Medical. A majority of adults sleep on their side, and about 38 percent prefer sleeping on their back.
There are neck, back and shoulder pain risks for stomach sleepers, according to the Cleveland Clinic. In a June Cleveland Clinic article on health essentials, chiropractor Andrew Bang, DC, compared the body’s spine to a car when it comes to the importance of alignment. When a person sleeps on their stomach, they throw off their spine and risk throwing off their entire body.
“It puts added stress on your lower back—and that’s a part of the body that most of us are already taxing in our day-to-day activities,” Bang said.
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Sleeping on the stomach also requires twisting the head in one direction or another while lying down, which can bring about neck pain. In turn, this can create a feeling of being “wired but tired,” chiropractor and counselor Dr. Sarah Jane told Newsweek earlier this year. Stomach sleeping also brings shoulder pain risks because humans naturally lift their arms while at rest, which adds tension to the shoulders and arms while sleeping on the stomach.
All these factors contribute to the stomach being sleep experts’ “least favorable” sleeping position, Jane had said.
Experts widely agree that sleeping on the back or side is preferable to stomach sle