Upgrading your sleep setup for a better rest can mean some expensive investments. Our best mattress and best pillow guides can help you find a bed that will limit aches and pains, but this isn’t a quick solution. While you consider your setup options, there’s one easy upgrade that won’t cost you anything at all: sticking a pillow between your knees.
If you’re comfortable in bed, you probably don’t give much thought to what's the best position to sleep in. That’s something sleep posture expert James Leinhardt wants to change. Having worked in hospitals helping bed bound patients get healthy sleep, he’s seen firsthand how much good sleep posture can improve overall posture while also limiting pain. But he also knows just how hard it is to break bad sleep habits, especially for side sleepers that have a tendency to twist forward in the night. Which is why he champions this easy trick.
How do you fix a bad sleep position?
Side and front sleepers can quickly fix a bad sleep position by adding a pillow between the knees before drifting off. Sleep expert James Leinhardt describes it as a prompt to “stop you going to the bad positions”. By creating a space between the knees, you place your body in neutral alignment. The stacked position helps distribute pressure more evenly along the body and provides support to the spine, decreasing the risk that you’ll wake up aching. As James says, “it basically maintains a really good seated posture”.
How can a pillow help side and front sleepers?
Levitex, the sleep brand created by James, refers to the optimum semi-fetal side position as ‘the dreamer’. But while it might be the ideal sleep position, many of us fall into the ‘applauder’ position instead (see the images above). This happens when the top leg slips forward, twisting the body. The spine loses support, the pressure points change, and pain can start to build in the shoulders and lower back.
“That pillow between the knees and the ankles supports that top leg and de-weights it. If you don't have that then that top leg drops down.” As James explains, adding a pillow between the knees “keeps the position most stable, de-weights that top leg, and stops you turning.”
For front sleepers, making the change from stomach to side can be awkward. If you tend to find yourself in the 'tackler' position (above), lying on your side will feel unnatural at first, and you might be tempted to revert to your usual posture, even though it puts pressure on you neck. Placing a pillow between the knees can help stop that compulsion to roll forward, before you give in. In time, your new side sleeping posture will feel just as comfortable. Hugging a pillow to your chest can also stop you from twisting as you sleep.
This tip can be particularly beneficial for those with wider hips (typically women). By placing a pillow between the legs, your knees are widened to meet the width of your hips, bringing the legs in line.
Can you use pillows for better back sleeping?
This tip isn’t just for side sleepers (or front sleepers looking to make an adjustment). If you sleep on your back, you can also benefit from the pillow trick. No, don’t stick a pillow between your thighs, but place one beneath your knees. The slight elevation aids spinal alignment, as well as helping you maintain good posture throughout the night.
Any pillow will do, but for a luxury upgrade, consider a full body pillow. During our Simba Cooling Body Pillow review, our tester found it “does a decent job of keeping your spine straight when you sleep on your side”. It can also help if you have a tendency to tip forward during the night (or you can try hugging a pillow to your chest).
James Leinhardt has a wealth of knowledge in night time postural care and has designed class-one medical devices to manage the posture for clients suffering with complex neurological illness and injury. He works with NHS trusts and social care throughout the UK and his night time system has reached clients as far as the Middle East and Australia. He's also the founder of pillow and mattress brand Levitex.
