Written by Menswear Style in Health & Fitness on the 29th July 2015

Sleep is an instrumentally important facet of everyone’s lives. On average, we spend 25 years of our lives asleep. Our wakefulness dictates how productive, conscientious and happy we are – a bad night’s sleep can spell disaster for your week. Despite the fundamental necessity for sleep – and quality sleep at that – we don’t pay nearly enough attention to it. How we sleep can drastically affect our health, both medically and psychologically. There are many variables to our sleep, from frequency to length and depth and beyond, but the most oft-neglected cranny of sleep is positioning. With this in mind, we focus on, and run through, the 4 best positions for men to aid their physical and mental health.

Recovery Position 

This sleeping position is so named for its origins with first-aid. In the event of unconsciousness, a first-aider will place the victim in this position in order to clear the airways and avoid potential self-inflicted injury from limbs. In order to adopt the recovery position, you lie on your right-hand side with your right arm forward and bent up at a right angle, and your left hand lay over the left with the back of the hand between your right cheek and the pillow. Your left knee should be bent for comfort and stability. Sleep benefits include a clear airway and relaxed limb muscles for reduced chance of cramp in the morning. 

Foetal 

This position is claimed to suggest sensitivity in those who naturally adopt it. The foetal position simply involves laying on one’s side with knees bent up towards the face and arms by the face. This position has similar benefits to the recovery position, though sleeping on one’s right hand side reduces drastically your propensity for acid reflux in the night. This is due to the asymmetrical way inyour stomach and oesophagus line up; lying on your right hand side makes it easier for acid to creep from your stomach into your pipes.

Log 

The Log is a much-overlooked sleeping position by virtue of its rigidity and the ostensible discomfort it might cause. However, it can greatly reduce risk of lower back and neck pain, whilst easing digestion owing to the flatness of the stomach. To adopt this position, you lie with legs and arms straight, perhaps with a pillow as an aid to tilt you slightly and as a result avoid any possible breathing problems. 

Starfish 

Last but not least, the Starfish position is said to denote of its adopters good listening abilities, and comes with a raft of health benefits, but a price. The position involves lying flat on your back, with your legs spread apart and your arms above your head. The position improves posture and eliminates back pain, as well as aiding digestion as seen in the Log, but at the cost of possible breathing difficulty owing to the weight on your oesophagus.

A healthy way to adopt any, or one, of these positions is to slowly incorporate it into your pre-sleep routine – the subconscious ritual you employ in bed, before sleep – until it feels completely natural to drift off in that position. It’s also important to ensure comfort whichever position you choose – Bedstar offer a wide variety of mattresses which suit different styles of sleep. How do you get to sleep at night? Are there any positions that work for you? Let us know in the comments below!

We discuss sleeping positions meanings and the best position to sleep in with this guide to The 4 Best Sleeping Positions for Men.