Why you must not lie on your tummy

The tummy is very important because it houses and protects the internal organs. According to Dr Fasanu Olaniyi, of Limi Hospital, Abuja, lying on the stomach especially with the body propped up on the elbow while reading or watching a movie from a laptop disrupts the normal curvature of the spine thereby putting strain on […]

The tummy is very important because it houses and protects the internal organs.

According to Dr Fasanu Olaniyi, of Limi Hospital, Abuja, lying on the stomach especially with the body propped up on the elbow while reading or watching a movie from a laptop disrupts the normal curvature of the spine thereby putting strain on the muscles of the back and that could eventually lead to chronic back pain.

Except you have a hole dug in your mattress to accommodate your face while sleeping flat on your tummy, you would have to turn your heads sideways for hours during sleep, this could also cause neck pain, Dr Olaniyi said.

The medical experts said pregnant women are also not advised to lay on their tummy for obvious reasons, adding “lying on the back after the first half of pregnancy could also be hazardous to both mother and baby, because of the danger of the womb compressing a big vein (Inferior vena cava) that carries blood to the heart.

“The recommended sleeping position for pregnant women is lying on their left hand side.”

He said lying on the tummy might not be totally bad, as sleeping on the back could worsen the symptoms of indigestion in people that have heart burn, so sleeping on the left side or on the tummy might help in people that have indigestion or recurrent heart burn.

“You might have a roommate that snores, advising him or her to lie on the tummy might be the advice you need to give him/her to help you catch your sleep. Lying on the back allows the tongue to fall backwards while one is asleep narrowing the airway and causing noisy breathing (snoring) and the accompanying poor sleep.

“Despite the long essay on the dangers of lying on the tummy, some people will still not be able to sleep except while lying on their tummy, the following advice might be useful to them. Sleeping without a pillow or a relatively flat pillow might be better. Sleeping on a relatively hard surface might also be helpful,” Dr Olaniyi advised.