![]() ![]() Not used to lying on your side? Or always been a side-sleeper - but can’t seem to get any rest now that you’re expecting? Here are a few tips to tackle pregnancy sleep problems and get yourself comfy sleeping in the side position: Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Sleep during pregnancy: Follow these tips See All Sources Tips on comfortable pregnancy sleeping positions But some experts now say that there's no real difference in outcomes to babies of mom’s who sleep minimal time on their back or most of the time of their back. In the past, the thought was that lying on your side optimized blood return to your heart and thus optimized oxygenated blood getting to your baby. Why? The back sleep position rests the entire weight of the growing uterus and baby on your back, your intestines and your vena cava, the main vein that carries blood back to the heart from your lower body. Some experts recommend pregnant women avoid sleeping on their backs during the second and third trimesters. ![]() If your favorite position is tummy-down, that’s okay - until your baby bump makes it uncomfortable or impossible, at which point you’ll have to switch positions. Trusted Source Cleveland Clinic Exactly How Bad Is It to Sleep on Your Back When You%u2019re Pregnant? See All Sources Sleeping positions in pregnancy Sleeping on your stomach during pregnancy Many experts also recommend that you avoid lying flat on your back all night long (but don't worry if you roll over during the night and wake up that way). However, some experts now say that pregnant moms can sleep in any position that's comfortable for them rather than worry too much about it one way or another. ![]() Trusted Source American Academy of Family Physicians Sleep and Pregnancy See All Sources What is the best position to sleep in pregnancy?Įxperts have traditionally said that the best sleep position when you’re expecting is on your left side - though your right is also perfectly acceptable. Past your first trimester, it becomes impossible to lie on your stomach for obvious reasons. And sleep controls how your body reacts to insulin not getting enough results in a higher blood sugar level, upping your risk of gestational diabetes. Therefore, if you feel you’re not getting the most from your sleep, sleeping on your left side may help.Sleep also keeps your immune system - which is suppressed to support your pregnancy - healthy. When sleeping on your left side, gravity assists drainage back to the spleen, helping detoxify the body.īoth conventional and complementary medical approaches suggest that sleeping on your left side might offer health benefits. Being part lymphatic system, the spleen is like a large lymph node that filters blood as well as lymph. So, when sleeping on your left side, the heart is pumping its contents downwards into the descending aorta. Also, the aorta - the largest artery in the body – goes from the top of the heart and arches to the left before descending into the abdomen. Since the heart is on the left side of the body, sleeping on your left assists lymph drainage as a result of gravity, reducing the workload of your heart while you sleep. Due to the position of the ileocecal valve, which connects the small and large intestine, sleeping on your left side enables waste to move more easily and be eliminated completely in the morning. Sleeping on the left enables gravity to encourage waste to move more easily from the small intestine to the large intestine. Another hypothesis suggests that the junction between the stomach and oesophagus is kept above the level of gastric acid when sleeping on the left side. It’s thought that sleeping on the right side relaxes the lower oesophageal sphincter, enabling gastric acid to move between the stomach and oesophagus, causing heartburn. The reason for this is not completely clear. Several studies found that sleeping on the left side tends to calm heartburn. Due to this structure, it’s thought that sleeping on the left side helps detoxify the body. As the lymph fluid drains, it carries proteins, glucose and waste products and is purified by lymph nodes before being drained into the left side of the heart. Most of the body’s lymph fluid drains into the thoracic duct, which is located on the left side. John Douillard (Doctor of Chiropractic and Certified Ayurveda Practitioner) offers several reasons for this belief from a complementary medicine perspective: Lymph drains It’s believed that left-side sleeping offers a number of other health benefits. Most likely, you probably never thought about which side is better for sleeping, but research has shown that sleeping on your left side can alleviate chronic heartburn and might be beneficial for overall health. Left or Right - Which Side is Better for Sleeping? Password * Toon Hide Forgot your password? ![]()
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