Jess Battison
Flat out starfish, snuggled up on one side in a ball, one leg over the top of the sheets and the other underneath – we’ve all got our own preferred positions when we’re having a kip.
But while you might think all sleep is good sleep, an expert has issued an urgent warning to anyone who is a ‘stomach sleeper’.
I mean, surely it’s the least popular position anyway? Lying flat on your belly with your face smashed into the pillow? No thanks.
James Leinhart is a sleep posture expert and shares clips on the Levitex TikTok account – a company selling sleep posture pillows and mattresses – to give tips on our health.
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And in one clip, he uses a human skeleton apparatus (nicknamed ‘Brucey’) to demonstrate why sleeping on our stomachs is so ‘horrendous’.
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Laying Brucey down, Leinhart explains: “You’ll see that you're fighting the natural curves of your spine.
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“If you’re on a pillow, it’s even worse. You’re going to be hyperextending and twisting your head.”
The creepy-looking demonstrator even gives a pained ‘ahh’ at this point as the expert shows how the curves of the spine create a ‘big space between you and the mattress’.
He goes on to explain that ‘gravity will continue to pull your weight down’ while you’re sleeping away on your stomach, ‘so you’re going to be pushing against the natural curves’.
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“Most predominantly around the neck – so if you’re getting terrible neck pain in the morning, or if you’re getting pain in your back in the morning or indeed you’re getting pain around your groin in the morning or your hips, it’s not because you did the gardening six months ago.
“It’s because you sleep like a twisted sausage.”
Even Brucey is pleading with you as he apparently adds: “Please stop abusing your spine.”
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And users were a little freaked out as they said they were watching the clip whilst laying on their stomachs in bed as others asked: “How else do u sleep tho?”
Another confessed: “I was always a stomach sleeper until a few years ago and I’ve always had bad back pain. I now sleep on my side with a pillow between my knees.
“My back has been much better.” As one echoed: “This really helped me realise why I’m always having neck pains, hip, back etc! I can’t believe I didn’t work it out sooner.”
While others offered up their own alternatives for fellow stomach sleepers: “I put two pillows under my stomach when I sleep that way. It helps.”