Sleeping Positions
Why do we sleep with one leg up? It comes down to 2 things: Your body is seeking stability while also seeking safety.
1. Your body is seeking stability: Having one leg up helps to stabilize your hips. This protects your spine and allows your body to relax. It also can be helpful for those who have had a shoulder injury. This position allows your shoulder to have some space so you’re not laying directly on it. Ultimately, anyone can sleep in this position, but if your knee is up really high, it shows me you have more range of motion in your hips. It’s not inherently “bad” to sleep in this position, but may be a sign we need to work on your back and hip stability
2. Your body is seeking safety: From a nervous system perspective, bringing our joints toward our midline can help to regulate us. This may look like a leg up or T-rex hands nice and close to our body. We need safety to transition our nervous system to be ready for rest (parasympathetic nervous system). A lot of us are stuck in a sympathetic (fight or flight) response.
Do you sleep in this position?
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