The Power of Sleep Positioning

This episode of Bulletproof Radio kicks off Better Sleep Month. Sleep hacking is core to what I do, so I wanted to invite someone on who’s dedicated to that practice. I’m talking with Dr. Peter Martone who is a chiropractor, exercise physiologist and inventor of the Neck Nest, a pillow specifically designed to improve your sleeping postures.

Here's a challenge: try watching a two-hour movie in the position you normally sleep in. Peter bets you won’t last more than 30 minutes without needing to move. You spend eight hours a night (ideally) sleeping, and a third of your life in total, so the way you orient your body during sleep is incredibly important. 

What position should we try to move to? Our backs! As Peter says, we were designed to sleep in a position that distributes our weight over the greatest surface area. When you sleep on your side, you lose the cervical curve in your spine and overtime develop scoliosis in your lower back. 

“It’s no coincidence that your sleep center and your pain center are right next door to each other,” Peter says. You can't stay in an uncomfortable position during sleep, because your body will toss out of it. “Sleeping on your back, if you can do it without your back hurting, without snoring like a machine, that's ideal.”

I had always felt pain every time I slept on my back, but ever since I started using this pillow, I’m a back sleeper. This pillow, once broken in, uses traction to support and restore your spine to that cervical curve. You only need to use it two to three hours a night to restore that curve.

“Being on a computer all day, texting all day, our spines are getting destroyed,” Peter says. “Our sleep scores are getting destroyed because we're tossing and turning all night long. You can fix your spine while you sleep, get 30% better sleep scores by just changing your position, and you can virtually eliminate neck and back pain by doing it while you sleep. It's crazy to me that we're a side sleeping culture, and I am trying to do my part to create the happiest, healthiest, most well-rested people on earth by teaching them how to sleep in a different position.”

The conversation also goes into heart rate variability, vagus nerve stimulation, deep sleep, energy spikes, circadian rhythms and other tips for getting great sleep. 

Enjoy! And get more resources at Dave.Asprey/podcasts.

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