Neck pain is one of the most pervasive muscle or bone injuries people face nowadays. Roughly Continue reading below ↓
Neck pain is one of the most pervasive muscle or bone injuries people face nowadays. Roughly 30% of the population deals with the condition every year, making it way more common than you may think at first.
Neck pain tends to withdraw after only a few weeks, but in as many as 50% of cases, it can develop into a chronic condition lasting for up to several months. With chronic neck pain, sleeping can become deeply uncomfortable.
The right sleep position can help reduce neck pain by minimizing pressure on neck muscles, letting them relax, and reducing the muscle strain that causes a stiff neck. Changing your sleep posture can accelerate recovery, helping ease neck pain as swiftly as possible and reducing the chance for muscle tension to worsen its symptoms.
The best sleep positions for reducing neck pain are sleeping on your side and sleeping on your back. Still, there are additional steps you should take to get the best results out of both of these sleeping positions.
We will go over the best sleeping position for neck pain below, along with extra tips on how to practice good sleep hygiene and prevent neck pain symptoms.
Why Your Sleeping Position Matters
Everyday physical activities, including simply moving around, apply stress to your muscles, ligaments, joints, and tissue. Sleep provides an opportunity to relax your body, letting everything reset and recover.
However, lying down in an awkward position that puts tension on your body will prevent it from properly resting, causing pain and discomfort after waking up. For your upper body, this often manifests as neck and shoulder pain.
Your goal should be to find a sleeping position that’s as neutral as possible, allowing stretched-out muscles and ligaments to shrink and get back into their normal position. Having muscles and ligaments that are fully rested by the time you wake up will relieve pain, help you get rid of neck stiffness, and speed up recovery.
What Sleeping Positions Are Best and Worst for Relieving Neck Pain?
Depending on several factors, sleeping on your side and sleeping on your back are the best sleeping positions you should opt for if your neck hurts. On the other hand, stomach sleepers aren’t in luck, as sleeping on your stomach can only exacerbate neck pain.
1. Sleeping on Your Side
A 2019 review by BMJ Open showed that side sleeping is, generally, the sleep posture that leads to the least amount of neck, shoulder, and back pain. It’s also the optimal option for people who snore, are pregnant, or have digestive problems, especially sleeping on one’s left side.
To get the greatest benefit out of this position, it’s crucial to position your head and neck in a way that’s aligned with the rest of your body. When sleeping on your side, this is best done by using a pillow that’s not too flat but also not too large and fluffy. A good rule of thumb is to ensure that the pillow isn’t high enough to force your upper ear toward your shoulder but not low enough to let your head droop down.
A good strategy for reinforcing neck support is to roll up a small towel and place it inside the pillowcase, just under your neck. This will help create a smoother slope for your neck to lie on. You could also purchase a special wedge-shaped pillow.
What also helps align your spine, pelvis, and hips, and relieve pressure off your spine is to keep a smaller pillow between your legs. It makes it harder to spontaneously curl up in a fetal position while you sleep, as curling up creates pressure on your spine, which may cause more neck pain.
Sleeping solely on one side, however, can lead to different complications, including but not limited to shoulder and elbow pain. As such, it’s wise to alternate the sides you sleep on.
2. Sleeping on Your Back
While research shows less positive results for a supine position—in other words, sleeping on your back—it can be the best option in case you also struggle with shoulder, elbow, or lower back pain, or are simply used to sleeping in such a position.
The trick here is to support your neck in such a way that your spine follows its natural curve, leaving the head and neck in the same position they would be in if you were standing. This is best done using a pillow that follows your neck curvature as closely as possible.
This means that the ideal pillow size and volume depend on your posture. If you have a straight posture, you’ll benefit from a flatter pillow, while people with a curved spine will likely require a fuller pillow. To ensure the most proper spinal alignment, a memory foam pillow may also be a good idea.
To maintain the natural curve of your lower back, you might also want to place a smaller pillow under your knees and a small rolled-up towel under your waist.
3. Sleeping on Your Stomach
Stomach sleeping is considered to be the least ergonomic position for your neck since you’ll inevitably have to turn your head to one side, making it impossible to keep your neck in a neutral position. Holding it under an angle for a longer period increases the strain on your neck and lower back.
You can train yourself to sleep in another position by assuming a sleep position on your side or back and keeping large pillows around your body to prevent yourself from turning over in your sleep.
If you find it too difficult to change your sleeping habits, try placing a small pillow under your waist and potentially even losing the pillow under your head.
Additional Tips for Neck Pain Relief
To reduce neck pain as quickly and effectively as possible, you may want to go beyond just seeking to optimize your sleeping position. Here are some other actions you may want to take:
Replace Your Old Mattress
On average, after 6–8 years, mattresses begin to sag, which makes them feel increasingly uncomfortable. You should regularly replace old mattresses and ideally go for medium-firm ones, as studies show that they have the best ergonomic effects.
Use Hot and Cold Compress
Both high and low temperatures are useful in treating neck pain. Within the first 48–72 hours after the injury, an ice pack can help reduce inflammation. Afterward, a heating pad, hot water bottle, or hot towel before bed can help increase circulation and relieve muscle spasms.
Do Targeted Exercises and Stretches Before Bed
Gentle neck stretches and other light exercises targeting your neck muscles will help them avoid nighttime muscle cramps and prepare them for any stress caused by a potentially uncomfortable sleeping position.
Control Your Room Temperature
A room that’s hotter or colder than optimal may cause you to turn around in your sleep, a situation that may only put additional strain on your neck and potentially leave you lying in an uncomfortable position. Ensure you create a comfortable environment that’s not too hot and not too cold.
Ditch Your Phone at Night
Using your phone while lying in bed usually requires you to strain your neck, especially when looking down.
Either keep your phone in front of your face or, better yet, keep it away from your bed.
Make Lifestyle Changes
A 2020 research published in Psychological Health Medicine showed that after increasing their daily exercise level, patients with chronic neck pain have reported an improvement in their overall mood and sleep quality. Apart from generally improving your metabolism, exercise increases endorphin production, which helps your body deal with pain.
Modify Your Posture
Sitting in a hunched position over your desk, as well as other instances of bad daytime posture, can easily lead to neck pain at night. Try making adjustments to adopt a more neutral posture, such as sitting up straight while holding your chin tilted down as little as possible.
Consult a Physical Therapist
If you still need help after trying everything listed above, you might want to consult a physical therapist. They can prescribe a personalized treatment plan with an individual exercise regime and may also use various hands-on pain relief techniques, such as massage or trigger point release.
Final Words
Adopting an optimal sleeping position can help relieve you of neck pain, and so it’s best to sleep on your side and back. For stomach sleepers, this sleeping position may be less than ideal and may cause more body pain problems in the long run.
But if you take precautions or slowly change your sleeping habits (as mentioned above), you may experience less strain on your neck over time.
A word of advice: Neck pain is often symptomatic of issues that affect more than a single area of your body, such as arthritis, muscle inflammation, or spine problems. As such, there’s a high likelihood that you might simultaneously need to deal with pain in your shoulders, back or joints.
Here at Thermo Recovery Wear, we’ve designed a special line of recovery products to help improve your body’s circulation, reducing pain and naturally accelerating your recovery processes. Their non-compressive feature makes them suitable to wear even while sleeping!
We invite you to check out our product catalog and pair good sleep hygiene with affordable, high-quality products designed to help you get a more comfortable good night's sleep.
