There are considerable differences between the various sleeping positions.
But when you fall into bed in the evening after a long day, hardly anyone consciously thinks about how they lie down.
But what if you slept for 23 years straight?
- Wouldn't you want to make sure that your sleeping position is as healthy as possible
- Wouldn't you at least make sure that your sleeping position doesn't have any negative consequences for your health?
With an average sleep duration of 7 hours and a life expectancy of around 80 years, a person sleeps an incredible 204,400 hours on average.
That's over 23 years!
No other activity accounts for so much time in our lives.
When you realise this, it becomes clear that our sleeping position must have a significant influence on our lives.
The question is:
Does your sleeping position have a positive or negative effect on your body?
When you lie in bed, the position of your spine is a decisive factor for your physical health.
In the case of stomach sleepers, for example, the cervical spine is particularly overstretched when the head is turned sideways. And for hours on end. Every night.
The same applies to side sleepers who use the wrong pillow.
So it's no wonder if you struggle with tension or even pain in the neck and back area or will have to struggle with it in the future.
Of course, this pain does not necessarily have to be caused by the wrong sleeping position. Many factors can play a role.
But:
The right sleeping position can help you to relieve (or prevent) neck or back pain.
From an orthopaedic point of view, the supine position is the best sleeping position
Think of it like this:
The supine position acts as a kind of "reset" for your spine.
It brings your head, neck and torso into a natural position and supports the physiological, s-shaped curvature of the spine.
What we do wrong during the day by constantly sitting or "looking at our smartphones" can literally be corrected during sleep.
Tension and pain in the back and neck can be alleviated (or prevented).
And even more.
Sleeping on your back can also improve your posture.
Nowadays you often hear the saying "sitting is the new smoking". And the so-called "mobile phone neck" is also becoming more and more of a real health problem.
The human head weighs around 5kg. If you tilt it forwards - to look at your mobile phone - the strain on our cervical spine multiplies. At a head tilt of 15°, it is an additional 13kg. At 45°, the load on the vertebrae is already over 20kg.1
You are probably also familiar with the following graphic:
It beautifully illustrates the strange but serious challenges we face in this day and age.
Poor posture is seriously damaging our health.
And now take a closer look at the person sitting down. Does this position remind you of something?
That's right. This posture is pretty much the same as the so-called 'foetal position', in which many people like to sleep. It feels cosy and conveys a feeling of security.
However, it has one major disadvantage.
The embryo position also brings the notoriously harmful sitting position from the desk into bed.
It doesn't matter whether you are sitting upright or lying horizontally in bed in this position. The decisive factor here is the tightened legs, which can lead to a shortening of the hip flexor muscles. And this in turn is a common cause of back pain.
The tricky thing is that our poor posture usually only becomes noticeable gradually
Our body doesn't give us any immediate feedback for mistakes in our posture.
You can sit hunched over for months or years, look at your smartphone with your head bent forwards or lie in an unhealthy sleeping position - without feeling any pain.
But statistics show that sooner or later you will most likely pay the price.
According to a Statista survey, 74% of people over the age of 18 in Germany suffer from back pain several times a year.²
Of course, the risk is even higher if you don't consciously do something about it.
And if you can even do this while you sleep, there's really no excuse not to do something for your physical health.
... but admittedly, it's easier said than done.
Problem #1: Very few people can sleep well in the supine position
We usually choose our sleeping position unconsciously. We lie down in a position that feels good and that we have become accustomed to over the years.
But even if you know the advantages of lying on your back, it's not so easy to change your sleeping position overnight.
Maybe you've already tried it:
You lie on your back, but no matter how tired you are and no matter what you try, nothing helps. You could probably lie like that for three hours and not fall asleep. And then when you turn back to your normal position - on your side or on your stomach - you can suddenly sleep.
It's hard to explain, but somehow this "feeling of security" is missing when you lie on your back.
But that's not all:
Problem #2: Even the best sleeping position is counterproductive with the wrong pillow
Conventional pillows are only suitable for one sleeping position at most.
In theory, you therefore need a specially designed pillow for each sleeping position.
So there's no point in sleeping on your back with your current pillow.
So which pillow is best for sleeping on your back?
The answer: none at all.
Sleep experts recommend lying on your back without a pillow
This also applies to the well-known pain therapist Roland Liebscher-Bracht. His video on the correct sleeping position - on your back without a pillow - already has over 11 million views:
In this way, you bring your body into a completely horizontal position and use the time during sleep to relieve your spine and return it to a natural and healthy position.
However, most people need a familiarisation phase of several days to weeks
Virtually nobody sleeps through the whole night on their back straight away.
Switching from "with pillow" to "without pillow" in the middle of the night is very annoying. A permanent change in sleeping position is therefore doomed to failure in most cases. The success rate is very low.
Let us summarise once again:
- Sitting all day, looking at our smartphones and an unhealthy sleeping position (especially the prone and foetal position) put enormous strain on our spine. Back and neck pain are the logical consequence for millions of people.
- At around 23 years of age, we spend a huge proportion of our lives asleep.
- If you sleep on your back, you use this time to bring your spine back into a natural position. This allows you to do something good for your body while you sleep instead of putting further strain on it. Pain in the spine can be alleviated or prevented from the outset.
- However, only very few people manage to change their position and sleep on their back in the long term.
It was precisely these facts that inspired us to develop the "flexpillow"...
The solution: the "flexpillow" is an innovative pillow that helps you find the ideal sleeping position
The flexpillow is aimed at people with back or neck pain who want to prevent it or generally improve their posture.
It is designed to help you sleep on your back without a pillow.
You simply lie on your back and the flexpillow gives your head lateral support and a feeling of being cuddled up on all sides, even though your head is pointing straight up. From now on, gravity does the rest and returns your spine to its natural position overnight.
At the same time, the flexpillow also allows you to switch to your usual side position at any time. Hardly anyone sleeps in the same position for 8 hours at a time. And that's not necessarily the aim.
A little variety in the sleeping position doesn't hurt either. This prevents one-sided strain, such as circulatory problems in the areas of the body that are lying on top.
However, it is important that you can also lay your head on your side so that the cervical spine is not overstretched. This is exactly what you can achieve with the flexpillow's side supports. It is therefore also available in different heights to suit different body sizes.
In addition to the enormous physiological benefits of lying on your back, you can also enjoy all the advantages that an orthopaedic neck support pillow offers when lying on your side.
The advantages of the flexpillow at a glance
The patented shape of the cushion:
- Makes it easier for you to sleep on your back
- Allows you to change your sleeping position at any time without having to change your pillow
- Supports your cervical spine when lying on your side and offers all the benefits of a conventional orthopaedic neck support pillow
- Provides the necessary support for your head on both sides when lying on your back, so you don't have the problem of not knowing "where to put your head"
- The material, visco mineral foam, is characterised by its durability, breathability and mite resistance and also adapts perfectly to the shape of your head thanks to its so-called point elasticity
And as a nice side effect: in the best case scenario, the pillow will also pay for itself financially after just a few months. Just think about how much money you could save on painkillers or physiotherapy if you can reduce your pain or prevent it from occurring in the first place by lying on your back.
(Not to mention the increase in quality of life due to the freedom of pain and movement...)
What our customers say about flexpillow:
Flexpillow: When you see this cushion for the first time, you might think: Isn't there something missing? But: far from it! The Flexpillow is the first special pillow of its kind on which I was able to sleep completely through the night. The pillow is ideal for people who want to sleep on their back as well as on their side. The pillow is odourless and (in my opinion) delivers what it promises: a good night's sleep.
Rene Gräber (author of specialised books)
I have tried flexpillow and after a few days you can feel how good it is for your back. In addition, you can literally feel the restructuring in the neck area. As with any pillow, you need a certain period of familiarisation, but this goes quite quickly. I can only recommend flexpillow. Just give it a try!
Lars Schlichting (ex-professional football player & personal trainer)
For years, we have spoken in our medical fitness seminars about how healthy it is to sleep on your back on firm ground without a pillow in order to straighten the physiological curvature of the spine, which becomes more and more S-shaped during the course of the day, at night. The relaxed spine is thus lengthened again by gravity. This can even be measured in the evening and in the morning!
However, side sleepers must pay particular attention to a straight cervical spine so as not to risk a stiff neck in the morning. However, many people find the natural position with arms folded under the head uncomfortable. However, only this innovative pillow creates the ideal combination for the back and side position! That's why I recommend it to everyone, seminar participants, therapists and patients alike.
Kai Amberg (Medical Fitness Expert & Founder of Aeroletic)
I myself complained of headaches and back pain, mostly after getting up. I felt sleep-deprived and chronically tired. Physiotherapy helped temporarily, but the pain kept coming back. It soon became clear that the cause was poor posture in my cervical spine.
This was followed by several attempts with different pillows and changes of position. A good friend introduced me to flexpillow, and although I was very sceptical at first, the pain disappeared permanently. Until today!
Dr Olaf Deling, MD
The clock is ticking either in your favour or against you...
If you have read this far, we hope that you have experienced some real "aha moments" in the last few minutes.
If you go to bed tonight and consciously think about your sleeping position, we will have achieved our goal.
Namely, to make you aware of how much of our lives we actually spend in bed and that the clock can tick either in your favour or against you.
Either you use this time to your own advantage, recovering and regenerating from the stresses of everyday life. Or you can put your body under additional strain by adopting poor sleeping positions.
The choice is yours.
And we know of no easier way to do something good for your body than by simply changing your sleeping position.
If you want to use a pillow that provides you with ideal support, then take a closer look at the flexpillow.
Sources:
1 https://www.apotheken-umschau.de/Handynacken
² https://de.statista.com/infografik/8488/rueckenschmerzen-in-deutschland/
