Posture for a Good Night’s Sleep

We all know good posture is important, and we might have memories of our mom or teacher reminding us to “sit up straight.” But did you know that your sleep posture is incredibly important for how you feel in your body on a day-to-day basis? All those aches and pains, stiff joints, and tight muscles can have a lot to do with how you’re sleeping. 

Admittedly, it can be difficult to be aware of what’s happening with our body while we’re unconscious and dreaming. After all—how many people are aware that they’re snoring? The key is to cultivate a healthy bedroom environment that supports your body and your sleep. Here are some of our best tips!

Begin with the Mattress

Let’s start with the foundation. 

Our All Wool Mattress provides an amazing sleep surface that helps keep your spine in alignment—it gives for softness and holds for support. This allows your spine and the rest of your body to relax properly. Many happy Shepherd’s Dream customers have reported relief from painful pressure points, aches, and arthritis pains. In addition to its other perks, like temperature regulation (not too hot, not too cold) and all-natural, non-toxic, chemical-free construction, it’s an ideal way to assist your body’s overnight alignment.

If you like your mattress, but are curious about these benefits of wool, check out our Snuggle Mate Wool Topper.

Identify Your Sleep Position

There’s sleep posture and then there’s your sleep position:

• Posture is about proper alignment, especially of your spine and other joints. 
• Position is about how you place your body on the bed, or how you usually sleep.

So which camp do you fall in: back, stomach, side sleeper, multiposition, or “the flipper”? Each position has benefits and drawbacks.

Back Sleeping

While this isn’t the most popular position, back sleeping is still quite common. With a supportive mattress and pillow, back sleeping can be great for our body’s alignment, leading to fewer aches and pains. Back sleepers also tend to move less during the night, leading to more restful sleep. A Contour Pillow can also help keep curvature in the spine and neck to reduce pain.

The biggest issue with back sleeping is snoring. Serious snoring can be a sign of a condition known as sleep apnea, where the airway becomes obstructed, interrupting breathing and your sleep. If you experience any aches and pains with back sleeping, give side sleeping a try.

Back sleepers, try our EcoWool Contour Pillow for comfy, all-natural support for your neck and head by combining the benefits of a regular sleep pillow and a neck pillow in one.

Stomach Sleeping

The rarest of the sleep positions, stomach sleepers have some challenges. Most of them relate to the difficulty in maintaining good alignment, leading to aches and pains and restless sleep. It can be better for sleep apnea, since stomach sleeping helps keep airways unobstructed.

If you’re a confirmed stomach sleeper and can’t train yourself to sleep otherwise, there are a few recommendations:

• Sleep with a pillow under your pelvis to help align your spine and take pressure off the back.
• Consider sleeping without a pillow under your head. This makes your mattress choice even more important!

Side Sleeping

By far the most common sleep position, side sleeping has several pros and a few cons. It can be a challenge to maintain good alignment, and there can be more tossing and turning disrupting sleep patterns. But overall, it has been shown to contribute to healthier cognitive function, increased blood flow and circulation, reduced snoring and sleep apnea, and fewer aches and pains. 

Try our EcoWool Neck Pillow for extra support to help with spinal alignment. Or for custom full-body support, especially knees and hips, hug our EcoWool Body Pillow.

Think Posture All Day

It’s key to bring awareness to your alignment and posture during the day as well. This will reinforce your new good sleep habits and contribute to overall better health and well-being. 

It’s our mission at Shepherd’s Dream to be a part of your healthy lifestyle! Let us know how we can help.