Tips/tricks for learning to sleep on your back?
 

I'm wondering if anyone has successfully taught themselves to sleep only on their backs, and if so, how they managed to do it. I've considered trying this for some time to see if it would help with my headache, but move around from side to side a lot during sleep and never seem to be able to fall asleep on my back.

Well I'm going to try again with renewed vigor (!) and was wondering if anyone who has successfully made the switch could share how they managed it.

Thanks

There are a number of things to try. Put a pillow under your knees. This makes you hips/pelvis more comfortable when on your back.

Practice sleeping in a recliner. An adjustable bed serves this purpose well.

Use a pillow that curves up around your ears. Many need side support. I roll the end of my pillow so it forma an M.

I started trying to sleep on my back decades ago when I developed severe Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I needed to wear wrist braces at night. It is miserable to sleep on your side with wrist braces. I would sleep on my back with my hands and wrists on my belly.

Most important. Don't go to bed until you are sleepy. If you are truly sleepy, you should be able to fall asleep within minutes. This makes tossing and turning less likely. Being sleepy at bed time starts with when you get up in the morning. No naps. No caffeine after 12 noon.

I finish getting ready for bed/getting sleepy with most of the house lights off. Just a dim light to read or use my laptop. Nothing stimulating to read or watch. When my eyes start to feel heavy. I quietly and calmly go get in bed. No stops for a drink or bathroom. That was done earlier. If it is cool, I use a warming mattress pad so my bed is not cool, but warm and cozy.

When I do this right, I fall asleep quickly and wake up in the morning on my back.

It can require some experimenting to find what works.

Good luck with this. When you find the solution, sleeping and waking up becomes a great experience. Before, I was anxious to go to bed because I would have nightmares and other stressful events during sleep.

Thanks for the tips. So far I've been fairly sleepy before going to bed (although I always use the bathroom at least once immediately before hitting the hay, but that doesn't really undo the sleepiness very much), but I just can't fall asleep, even if relatively comfy. Last night, for instance, I probably layed in bed for 45 minutes, feeling relaxed and comfy, but not able to fall asleep. Then I started getting quite ancy and having the urge to move from side to side.

I'm also unsure of what to do with my hands, as resting them on my stomach is comfortable at first, but eventually, from the slight incline I guess (?) they sort of lose circulation and feeling and it becomes uncomfortable.

I'm also not sure that even if I fall asleep on my back, that I'll stay there. I move around a lot at night (23andme tells me I have a genetic polymorphism that explains that!). I guess the basic jist is I just have to experiment and find something that works, and keep at it even if some sleep has to be sacrificed.

If you are laying in bed for 45 minutes before falling asleep, you are not sleepy enough when you get in bed. The brain trauma sleep specialist I heard said you should be able to fall asleep in less than 10 minutes, 15 at the most. She said if you are still awake at 30 minutes or so, get up and get sleepy again. If you start to get fidgety, get up and find something to distract yourself while you get sleepy again.

The sensation of a bladder than needs emptying limits how sleepy one can become, especially with the sensory struggles PCS patients have. Consuming liquids should stop hours before bed time except for sips for medication and to wet the mouth. Unless I am very sleep such that I stumble into the dark bathroom, I can rarely go just before getting into bed.

btw, By the time I head to bed, all of the lights are off except for maybe a stove light or my wife's underbed nightlight that reflects on the floor. No light that strikes the eyes. I can walk to either bathrooms in the dark and find the seat. No need to aim when you sit. I've usually been watching Netflix on my computer with the screen on low light and the headphone volume down low.

There is a difference between physical tiredness and sleepiness. Sleepiness is neurological Tiredness is physical. Sleepiness helps you go to sleep.

Your can disrupt tiredness with physical activity. Sleepiness needs waking activity/mental stimulation.

If I get in bed and lie there for a while and start to fidget of my eyelids start blinking, i know to get up and start over.

It has been a lot of work for me to learn to get to sleep, much less learn to sleep on my back.

I think I've got pretty good sleep hygiene, at least good enough that it works for me with side sleeping. I was sleepy enough to have fallen asleep on my side in the example I talked about, I was just unable to fall asleep despite being sleepy on my back. This was both because initially I just couldn't fall asleep, and then later was ancy and had hands that "fell asleep" or went numb and became uncomfortable after resting on my stomach.

I have the same problem, Laupala. I can't fall asleep on my back no matter how hard I try which would help a lot with my neck pain. As soon as I turn over on my side though I'm out like a light. I think it's just habit. I've been a side sleeper for 23 years so it's gonna take awhile to adjust.