Why do women sleep on their stomachs?

In life, most people have different sleeping positions. Many people like to sleep on their backs, but some people like to sleep on their stomachs, especially some women. Generally, it is best for adults not to sleep on their stomachs. Sleeping on your stomach is very harmful to the human body, especially for women. So why do women sleep on their stomachs? The following are the dangers of sleeping on your stomach for women.

The dangers of women sleeping on their stomachs

1. Bad for the eyes

When women sleep on their stomachs, they generally do not bury their entire faces directly in the pillow, because this will make it difficult to breathe. Most women choose to sleep with their face turned to one side. This means that the eye that is closer to the pillow is more likely to be compressed, causing pressure on the eyeball. If this continues for a long time, the intraocular pressure in one of women's eyes will be too high, and it will be easy to become nearsighted.

2. Bad for the neck

When people sleep on their stomachs, they tend to turn their heads to one side in order to breathe better, so their necks need to remain in a non-straight position. If the neck is always tilted, it will easily cause soreness and pain in the neck, and it will also easily cause the local muscles of the neck to "work too long" and cause excessive strain. It may also cause excessive pressure on the neck, which can easily cause neck injury and have a certain impact on its blood turnover.

3. Poor digestion

When a woman sleeps on her stomach, her belly will be in direct contact with the bed surface. Coupled with the weight of her body, her belly will be compressed by the weight, and her stomach will also be affected. When the stomach is under greater pressure, it cannot function normally, which means that digestion is not as efficient. If this continues for a long time, bloating can easily occur. Once the situation continues for a long time, various stomach diseases are likely to occur.

4. Not good for breasts

When women sleep on their stomachs, their breasts are sandwiched between their bodies and the bed. Part of the body weight will press on the breasts, and the contact between the breasts and the bed will cause the breasts to be compressed further. If the breasts are compressed for a long time, it will affect the blood flow inside and cause the breasts to be invaded by diseases.

Correct sleeping position for women

Supine: Not related to retroverted uterus

This sleeping position is quite common, accounting for about 50% to 60% of the population. Sleeping like this will not put pressure on any internal organs in the body and should be a healthier sleeping position. Some people say that lying on your back will cause the uterus to be retroverted, but this has no scientific basis. Because the position of the uterus, anterior or posterior, is determined by four pairs of ligaments around the uterus. The combined force of the four pairs of ligaments keeps the uterus in an anterior, median or posterior position, which has little to do with sleeping position.

But the disadvantages of the supine position are: some people are used to putting their hands on their chest, which will cause nightmares and affect sleep; some people are used to using high pillows, which is not good for the health of the cervical spine; fat people have looser soft tissues, and when lying on their backs, the root of the tongue is pulled back, which makes them prone to snoring and even sleep apnea.

Lying on the left side: the best position for late pregnancy

20% to 30% of the population sleeps on their left side. As we all know, the heart is located on the left side of the entire thorax. If you sleep on your left side, the position of your heart is low. In order to ensure blood circulation throughout the body, the heart will have to do more work, which will increase the burden on the heart. Sleeping on the left side is especially not recommended for some elderly people or people with heart disease.

However, for women in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, if they lie on their backs, the enlarged uterus will compress the inferior vena cava, resulting in a decrease in the amount of blood returning to the heart, which can cause supine hypotension. This will reduce blood supply to the placenta and, in severe cases, can cause intrauterine fetal hypoxia. Right side lying position is also not recommended. Because in the middle and late stages of pregnancy, the enlarged uterus is in a right-rotated state, which will compress the right ureter, causing ureteral dilatation and even hydronephrosis, so pregnant women in the middle and late stages of pregnancy are recommended to lie on their left side.

Sleeping on the right side: a healthy sleeping position

This sleeping position is a healthy sleeping position that most people recognize, mainly because it does not compress the heart; the openings of the stomach to the duodenum and the small intestine to the large intestine are both open to the right, which is conducive to the normal operation of the gastrointestinal tract and digestion; the liver is located in the right upper abdomen and its position is low when lying on the right side, which is conducive to blood perfusion of the liver and the metabolism of nutrients in the body. Therefore, lying on the right side is better for your health. And for women in early pregnancy, the uterus is small, so it is better to lie on the right side.

What to pay attention to when sleeping

1. Avoid eating before going to bed

When a person enters a sleep state, the rhythm of some body activities slows down and the person enters a resting state.

If you eat before going to bed, your stomach and intestines will be busy again, which will increase their burden and other parts of the body will not be able to get a good rest. It will not only affect your sleep but also damage your health.

2. Avoid talking before going to bed

Because talking too much can easily make the brain excited and the thinking active, making it difficult to fall asleep.

3. Avoid overusing your brain before going to bed

If you have the habit of working or studying at night, you should finish the more troublesome tasks in advance, and do something easier before going to bed to relax your brain, so that it will be easier to fall asleep. Otherwise, the brain will be in an excited state, and it will be difficult to fall asleep even if you lie in bed. Over time, you will easily suffer from insomnia.

4. Avoid emotional excitement before going to bed

A person’s emotions can easily cause excitement or disorder in the nerve center, making it difficult to fall asleep and even causing insomnia. Therefore, before going to bed, try to avoid being too happy or too angry, or too worried or angry, and keep your emotions stable.

5. Avoid drinking strong tea or coffee before going to bed

Strong tea and coffee are stimulating drinks that contain substances such as caffeine that can make people excited. Drinking them before bedtime can easily make it difficult to fall asleep.