Did you notice a lot of zits and wrinkles on your face this morning, and are least with who stole the freshness of your skin? Then probably your sleeping position isn’t correct. YES, Sleeping positions affect skin beyond one’s imagination!
A night of healthy sleep leads to glowy skin as it is the only time our skin muscles are relaxed, allowing the skin to heal and form new collagen.
But if you won’t have a good sleeping position, it ultimately obstructs the regular breathing of skin cells, leading to a dull face with lots of rashes and facial wrinkles.
So, if you want to know how different sleeping positions affect skin health, jump to the next section.
How Do Sleeping Positions Affect Skin?
Where a good sleep position leads to healthy, green skin, an incorrect sleeping position can easily take a toll on the skin, resulting in various skin problems like acne, wrinkles, aging, flatter cheeks, and marks.
According to the Aesthetic Study Journal, wrong sleeping positions lead to compression and tension of facial muscles. It results in the rapid development of sleep wrinkles, stealing the natural beauty and freshness of the face.
How Do Different Sleeping Positions Affect Skin?
Your sleeping position plays an ultimate role in the appearance of the fine lines and wrinkles on your face. The appearance of different marks depends on the time spent in a particular sleeping position. An average human being changes position 1.6 times per hour in sleep, spending 65% of the time in the lateral position, 30% in the supine position, and the remaining 5% lying on the stomach.
So, here are the four most common sleeping positions and their effect on our skin.
1. Sleeping on Your Back
Among all the sleeping positions, the back sleep is considered an ideal position to get some powerful Zzzs and yet gain a beautiful face.
It doesn’t lead to compression or torsion of facial muscles. Instead, sleeping on your back is a skin savior position that gives maximum span for skin breathing and blood circulation.
Moreover, the face isn’t in contact with either the pillow or bed sheet. Therefore, it doesn’t lead to the accumulation of bacteria and dirt from them on the face.
2. Sleeping on Side
Sleeping on side is the most common sleeping position throughout the world. Research showed that 41% of the UK inhabitants sleep on their side in the fetal position.
However, it is not an ideal position to sleep in for healthy skin. When you sleep on your side, all your weight is on one half of the face. As a result, the skin cells receive anorexic conditions with less oxygen supply, leading to skin damage and less collagen production.
Moreover, due to pressure, side position leads to flattening of cheekbones, triggering wrinkles and fine lines due to friction.
3. Sleeping on Stomach
Sleeping on the stomach is one of the worst sleeping positions to opt for as it leads to dull, flaky skin with lots of wrinkles and marks.
In this position, the face is pushed into the cushion, leaving skin with no space to breathe properly or blood circulation. Moreover, skin faces maximum shear, torsion, and compression, leading to a flatter face with clogged pores, rashes, acne, and under-eye bags.
4. Sleeping with a Pillow
A sound percentage of people sleep on their stomachs or side with one side of their face pushed into the cushion. It usually keeps the body at a 20 to 30-degree angle, allowing better blood circulation, thus leading to a fresh, glowy face.
But the problem is that one side of the face is pushed into the cushions, ultimately leading to obstruction of follicles in breathing and accumulation of bacteria on the face.
A general piece of advice is to change the pillowcases regularly.
What Is the Best Sleeping Position for Healthy Skin?
The supine or prone position is the ideal sleeping position as it allows maximum blood circulation, fluid drainage, and cell breathing which lead to young youthful skin. But despite its numerous benefits, only 8% of people sleep on their back.
There are various benefits associated with sleeping on the back like:
- Less neck and lumbar pain issues since there is equal distribution of body weight across the frame.
- Helps to keep the body muscles relaxed, leading to beauty sleep with improved insomnia symptoms.
- Diminishes face swelling and puffiness by providing ample space for forming new collagen
- Delays face aging and wrinkling
However, sleeping on the back comes with a major con. It worsens sleep apnea symptoms like snoring. Therefore, it is better to track your sleep cycle using a sleep tracker like ShutEye which analyzes your sleep the whole night and then generates a report.
If you are suffering from sleep apnea, sleeping on the back is probably not a good-to-go option for you.
Five Ways to Remain Sleeping on the Back
Now that you are up with the effects of different sleeping positions on the skin, and found that Supine Position is the ultimate secret to fresh, glowy skin with no wrinkles, let’s move towards some easy ways to achieve face-up snoozing.
So, here are a few handful approaches to help you sleep on your back:
- Opt for a firm mattress that keeps your muscles relaxed, keeping you from changing the position.
- Elevating your legs a bit makes it unlikely to change the position again and again at night.
- Provide good neck support to your tense neck muscles. It keeps them relaxed. You can either buy a good sleeping pillow or roll a towel under your neck.
- Spread your arms and legs in a starfish shape to allow efficient weight and pressure distribution.
Conclusion- The Final Verdict!
Correct sleep position is directly linked with good sleep quality and healthy, younger-looking skin. The prone position (Sleeping on the back) works best for 90 percent of people as it is kinder not only on the skin but also on the back and neck.
But, in some situations, a supine position leads to various health issues.
Therefore, it is better to track your sleep quality using ShutEye and train yourself to sleep in the most desired position accordingly.