Why sleeping on your back is the unhealthiest position and the one exception when its actually the best

Are you on the right side of history when it comes to your sleep position?How you sleep significantly impacts your health, affecting everything from breathing and digestion to spinal alignment and even wrinkle development.People tend to sleep on their side, studies show.Lying on the back is the second most common position, with stomach sleeping a distant third.So, which are the best and worst sleep positions? The Post had snooze experts pick a side.“Out of all sleeping positions, the worst one — backed by scientific evidence — would have to be sleeping on one’s back,” Michael Gradisar, head of sleep science for Sleep Cycle, a smart alarm app and sleep tracker, told The Post.When you sleep on your back, gravity can pull your tongue and soft palate back into your throat.This movement can narrow your airway, increasing the chances of the vibrations that cause snoring.Even worse, the airway can collapse, leading to breathing pauses during sleep.That condition is known as sleep apnea.Because sleep apnea disrupts rest, it’s been linked to irritability, mental health challenges, increased insulin resistance that paves the way for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.Lying flat on your back also makes it easier for stomach acid to flow back into the esophagus, fueling heartburn.“The best sleeping position is the one that feels the most comfortable, such that you get the most sleep,” Gradisar said.“If the most comfortable position happens to be on your back, then lesser quality sleep is better than very little sleep.”Still, it’s not all bad on your back — in fact, many of us started sleeping in the supine position in infancy.The back sleep position is widely recognized as the safest way to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) because it minimizes the odds of airway obstruction.Sleeping on your back also promotes spinal alignment, relieves sinus buildup and prevents wrinkles and breakouts because there’s less f...