How I Trained Myself to Sleep on My Back

I, Alissa, am now a back sleeper. As a life-long side sleeper I thought this was impossible. However, there were a couple of things that took me to the dark (back) side of sleeping. Not shockingly, I was mostly compelled when I found out sleeping on your back is a great way to have great skin and look refreshed in the morning. I started noticing cleavage lines when I slept on my side and well, they’ve taken progressively longer to disappear after I wake up. Granted, my chest has gotten larger BUT I really would like to not encourage pre-mature aging.

I supposed I should lead with something like, “I was compelled to start training myself to sleep on my back due to the amazing spine benefits” or something like that. No, it is straight up vanity that just happens to have some health benefits for my very neglected spine. I did sleep training during a very, very, very stressful time of my life and wasn’t even in my own bed for 3/4 of the training! (It was work travel, get your mind out of the gutter.)

I am a champion sleeper. By that I don’t mean I’m going to win awards for falling asleep anywhere. My champion sleeper award would be getting 7-8 hours of sleep almost no matter what, being able to fall asleep in less than 5 min. Sometimes I’ll turn on a podcast and I’m asleep before the intro is even over. So this was at the TOP of my concerns when I knew I was going to become, gasp, a back sleeper. That mythical unicorn of sleeping positions. Back sleeping.

How to Start Sleeping on Your Back

Before you get started, here’s a few things you really need to have or know.

• Make sure have the right support!
  • I used to sleep on fluffy pillows, one flat and one medium fluff. That allowed me to move around too much. When I started sleeping on my back I got this pillow that was more firm (you can stuff to your comfort level!) and also cooling!
• You will probably need some lower back support or something under your legs.
  • It can feel uncomfortable to just lie on your back during the first part of training so this will help.
• Some people really love a weighted blanket for this.
  • I personally have anxiety (Yes, I know they are meant to reduce it.) when I put a 20 pound blanket is on me. However, it’s worth trying out when you’re trying to start sleeping on your back.
• While you’re at it, also get a silk pillowcase so your skin and hair thank you.
• A relaxing spray of your bed in the morning or evening is such a lovely feeling. I’ve been doing this for years!
  • Scent is a huge part of feeling comfortable to me so I try to incorporate that in everything. (Plus I do NOT want the house to smell like a dog.)

What Helped Me Most? Pillowing Myself In

I would go to sleep on my back, proud of myself and wake up on my side, going, “What happened while I was sleeping?” Repeatedly. I was traveling a lot for work so a new mattress every single week wasn’t really helping. However, that made me even more determined to sleep on my back as the hotels had some terrible mattresses. I wanted to be able to back sleep under ANY circumstances.

So I had to figure something out. Then the perfect solution came. I literally had to create a sort of quasi-bedding buffer that didn’t allow me to turn to my side. Or at least, greatly impended the natural shift to my side. At home it was easier since I had extra pillows. At hotels I just requested double pillows and it wasn’t ever an issue.

Oh and I absolutely also spray my hotel pillows as well to help create some consistency.

How Long It’ll Take to Start Sleeping on Your Back

Because I knew I was going to write this post, I actually tracked how long it took to start sleeping (fully) on my back. This is from the beginning of sleep training to waking up also on my back. (Note: I still find myself waking up sometimes on my side, but I can tell it’s only been since I snoozed my alarm in my sleep.)

It took six weeks to go from side to back sleeping.

I felt like I wasn’t making ANY progress the first three weeks. Then I boxed myself in with pillows, had the right support and I was off to the (sleeping) races.

I’m not going to say this is a vital life skill, but it kind of an important one. If you’re like me and say it is IMPOSSIBLE to sleep on your back, you’re going to prove yourself wrong. I used to think it would take hours to fall asleep on my back and now it’s less than five minutes to sleep!