Do You Sleep on Your Back or Side? After 50 years of research,
eminent Stanford University sleep researcher William
Dement reportedly said the only solid explanation he knows for why we sleep is "because we get sleepy".
Even though sleep may be, as one researcher put it, "the only major behavior in search of a function", it clearly
does matter for our health and wellbeing. But are we doing it right?
What does the research say about sleeping position? Is there a correct position to sleep
in? Most people prefer to sleep on their side. This is good to
hear, as those who lie on their backs are more likely
to be poor sleepers or have breathing difficulties during the night.
In most cases, we tend to move around quite a lot during the night.
One study of 664 sleepers found, on average, that participants spent about
54 percent of their time in bed sleeping on their side, about 37 percent
on their back, and about 7 percent on their front.
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