Ask HN: How to learn to sleep on your back?

Apparently there is a pillow you can get which is shaped to curve up on the sides, making it uncomfortable to turn over to your side when sleeping. I've heard several people claim that it helped them "train" themselves to sleep on their backs; some even made their own makeshift barriers on the sides of their normal pillow to discourage flipping over.

I don't have such a pillow yet, but I also noticed folding my arms under my head (in a way where my right hand loosely grips my left shoulder and vice versa) creates a comfortable "nook" for my head when on my back. However while this position is comfortable for me, your arms do want to move after a while so it's not really practical to stay in that position for the entire night.

I've also heard it suggested that putting a long pillow or a foam tube of some kind covered with a blanket under your knees at night makes the position of lying on your back more comfortable. The idea is basically to raise your knees slightly instead of lying dead straight on the bed. That does indeed seem to be more comfortable for me, so I'm in the market for such a large firm pillow myself now.

For most of my life I've slept on my stomach. That changed when I moved to Chicago for a 6 month period.

At the time a bed was too expensive for a temporary situation and I always hated air mattresses. So, I decided to sleep on the floor.

The floor was carpeted, but the hardness punishes you if you move during the night. After a couple of weeks, I was having the best sleep of my life. I'd sleep the entire night without moving.

It's been about 5 years. I no longer sleep on the floor, but I do continue to sleep on my back. I also sleep for most of the night.

I suggest not using a pillow, or using the thinnest one you can. I used to have upper back/shoulder pain and went to a chiropractor. He showed me that my “head carriage” was off - I held my head too far forward, which caused neck/shoulder muscles to strain more to keep the head up. I corrected it by not using a pillow when laying on my back. A decade of pain gone in a couple of nights! YMMV

You're looking at Youtube movies, but don't look at your own body. You're jumping to conclusions while you don't have enough data.

Setup a ceiling camera to film yourself while you sleep. Study the result carefully. Try to determine why your body is doing what it is doing.

I have only my own body and anecdotes to go on so they may not fit you.

I have always slept on my side or almost stomach. One reason is when I sleep on my back I often get the night terrors (not sure the proper term). It's a thing where my mind snaps awake but not my body and it's as though I'm paralyzed. I hate that so that's one reason I don't sleep in my back.

The other is like you I don't fall asleep easily in my back.

About 10 years ago I got a tempurpedic memory foam mattress and suddenly I could sleep in my back.

After 2 years or so though i got rid of that mattress. it was too hot and it hurt my back in other ways. Something happened to my back such that sleeping on my back will often trigger severe pain that doesn't happen on my side.

one other thing I found is soft beds kill my back. it's a different kind of pain from the severe pain mentioned above. More like all my bones hurt at the joints when I wake up after sleeping on a soft bed. If I'm at a hotel and the bed is too soft I either have to sleep right on the edge of the mattress where it's stiffest or just sleep in the floor.

so recommendation number one. try different mattresses

the other thing that helped my back tremendously is excercise. I can't stress that enough. If I'm lazy and don't excercise for 8-12 days the pain comes back.

no idea if that was helpful.

I had to learn how to do this a number of years ago due to a severe spine injury. What I've found helps is having a large-ish but very soft pillow that accommodates my head lying to one side or another while I'm sleeping on my back.

As someone who exclusively sleeps on his back, what's the benefit?

I find it very hard to sleep on the side and impossible to sleep on my stomach.

This is funny... Only because I can relate but in the completely opposite sense. I am often told to sleep on my side to reduce snoring noises, but I find sleeping on my back much more comfortable and will always roll on to my back after a few hours on my side.

One old snoring trick to avoid back sleeping is to put a tennis ball in a sock and attach it to your shirt. Maybe you can build something similar to avoid side sleeping... Though mechanically might be a bit harder to attach to your body.

It's probably easier to set up your mattress/pillow to let you sleep comfortably on your side. This advice - https://purple.com/blog/the-side-sleepers-guide-to-sleeping - is from a mattress company, but several of the tips were things I learned from a physiotherapist, and in particular the pillow between my knees feels like it helps my lower back relax.

Just keep a pillow below your knees. It will keep your knee slightly bent and relaxed. The pillow prevents turning to the side. Works for me, otherwise a stomach sleeper.