Why I Tell Patients Never to Sleep Like This | Dr. Mandell

This is one sleeping position I tell my patients never to do. Yes, it may feel real comfortable at first, but when you understand the biomechanics of what it's doing to your neck, you're gonna think again before you do it. If you're waking up with neck pain and stiffness, tingling, burning, cramping, even low back pain, there's a reason why this is happening. This is a serious issue that affects so many problems you can't even imagine. Yes, we're sleeping in the same position here, me and the spine. Let me explain to you what's happening here. Here's a curve of your neck. It's supposed to be like this, a C-shaped curve. When you lay face down, you have to turn to the left or to the right, stretching ligaments. This compresses the disc. This affects the nerves. These yellow nerves right here, this is what goes down the arm, into the hand, into the fingers. If you have rotation and inflammation going on those nerves, you're gonna wake up with pain, stiff neck, headaches, pain between the shoulder blades. It can radiate, it can burn, it can cramp. You may notice that you can't turn your head fully because you have to turn your head between 40 and 60 degrees to breathe. Now, let's move down. What about down in here, right in this area here? This is your diaphragm. These are your lungs. These are your ribs. How can the ribs fully expand and open up to bring oxygen into the lungs if you've got weight compressing downwards? You've got your weight limiting the oxygen coming into the lungs, which is affecting the cells. You may be waking up feeling tired, fatigued, and not wondering why. And, to the lower back, you're hyper extending that lower back. That pelvis is rotating inwards, forwards, because you're putting stress down in here as well. This affects the body. The body does not like this, because if ligaments continue to stretch, tendons become inflamed and irritated, nerves become inflamed, you're going to have symptoms. And this is what we need to understand. When you lay face down, the lordotic curve, which should be like this, becomes accentuated. It becomes more of a lordotic curve. See how the pelvic rotates forward? That can affect the nerves that come off the lower back to go in the buttocks, down the leg that we call sciatica. This can affect the sacroiliac joints. This can cause spasming in the erector spinae when you wake up. The buttocks, the glutes, they're all affected by these nerves, because lying down is not the right position that the body is supposed to be in. A healthy spine should look like an S from the side, going in the cervical spine, coming out the thoracic spine, going back in the lumbar spine. When you're on your stomach, it throws everything off. Remember, the weight of the head should be equally distributed throughout the entire spine equally. If something is off, like forward rounded shoulders, forward head posture, then this bowling ball, which is our head, is 12 pounds for every inch. Additional 10 pounds is added to the spine, making these ligaments stretch, putting more irritation on the nerves, which is going to cause pain and arthritis as well as degeneration. So when we sleep, we want to maintain the spine, this curve, the best that we can, so preferably on our side or our back. Let me show you. So when you sleep on your side, pillow is so important. A high pillow will keep your head propped up. A low pillow will keep your head propped down too much. You want it the right density to where your head is neutral and straight with the spine. Once you have that, grab a big pillow, but put it between your knees, keeping the hips straight, taking pressure off the back. When you bend your knees, the holes, the nerves where they come out of in the lower back open up. So if you're having back problems, sciatica or chronic degenerative conditions, arthritis, sciatica, whatever the problem may be, keep the knees bent a little bit and then you can hold on to something as well. But keep the spine in line. And when you're on your back, you don't need this other pillow between your knees. You want it under your knees. When you put it under your knees, you want the knees slightly bent, opening up the spine, taking pressure off the psoas muscles, relaxing the back muscles, opening up the intervertebral spine, the nerves where they come out, take pressure off. And here's the key. Do not use a high pillow. High pillow will flex your neck. You're going to lead to more problems. Pillows should be low if you're on your back. Very important. Sleeping is all about repairing and healing. Your body has been broken down throughout the day. Cells need to heal. It's so important for the spine to be in the right position. This helps increase stimulation within the vagus nerve, stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing our body to relax. This affects many hormones in the brain. If you want to wake up refreshed, having that mobility, not having that stiffness, that burning, that tightness, that decreased mobility. Start sleeping correctly. Try to get off your stomach if you can. If you can't do it overnight, slowly work into it, either on your back or your side. And you will be amazed how much better you're going to feel, how much more energy you're going to have. Hope you enjoyed this video. Please share it with your friends and family. Leave your comments below. And most important, make it a great day. I'm Dr. Alan Mandel.