Sleep with Wide Shoulders = Pain

First post,

Ok so I’m not huge (6,3-260, natural), but I have so many drama’s when I go to sleep, with shoulder pain when I wake up. I cant stay in one position when I go to bed and I toss and turn until I go to sleep, so most of the time I’m sleeping on my side, I cant fall asleep on my back. Any suggestions from any one that goes through this?

[quote]MarkAUS wrote:
, I cant fall asleep on my back. [/quote]

I bet you could if you were tied down. Learn how to do it.

Get a good pillow that puts your neck in a neutral position. Tempurpedic pillow is great (the curved one).

I have that too , not saying my shoulders are that wide, but when I sleep on my side it does seems like my body ‘fold’ inward a bit and I’m surprised it doesn’t do something bad to my shoulders.

I sleep on my side. A good pillow takes care of some of the shoulder and neck issues. I find that oddly, keeping my sinuses clear helps me stay on my back more.

[quote]MarkAUS wrote:
First post,

Ok so I’m not huge (6,3-260, natural), but I have so many drama’s when I go to sleep, with shoulder pain when I wake up. I cant stay in one position when I go to bed and I toss and turn until I go to sleep, so most of the time I’m sleeping on my side, I cant fall asleep on my back. Any suggestions from any one that goes through this?[/quote]

Get a strong enough Mattress to support you (Hardness scale 3 is good for 260 lbs) and try laying on your tummy for a change.
Also, I find that if I am really, really tired I can fall asleep on my back very easily.

I think you should look into some ZMA and exercise a few hours before sleep to make sure that you can fall asleep faster without tossin’ and turnin`. That might be the real issue here.

I’m an on-the-side sleeper and only ~200lbs but apparently wide enough to prefer one pillow between the knees and one pillow between where the arms lie, so at least three pillows total = ideal

Or one of those long body pillows. The gf/wifey/etc doesnt quite work because it gets too warm and if you’re 250lbs+ they need to be kinda thick as well.

(not that I don’t prefer them that way anyway, but thats neither here nor there)

It’s a common issue. Do not sleep on a shoulder/side (you may be able to do it for short periods of time, but you’ll likely end up restricting circulation etc and wake up).

Sleep on your back (you just need to set it up comfortably) or stomach (may require special pillow setup…)… In general, have a good mattress (must not be soft… You’ll just sink in and end up with all kinds of back pain, but too hard and you’ll cut off circulation to your hands etc no matter how you lie…), get creative with your pillows… Some half-turned positions work as well…

You could possibly sleep on your shoulder if you went really crazy with pillow stacking under the arm and head but it’s too much of a bother and awkward as fuck.

Weighing a lot doesn’t help here, but it’s definitely possible to sleep just fine… You just need to put some thought and initial preparation into it.

FWIW you don’t need to have wide shoulders or even weigh all that much to end up with such issues. I’ve had that since I was 170 or 180 or whatever, and I certainly wasn’t wide then, or even heavy for my height.

I know a lot of old people who have such issues but they just complain about it while being too lazy to make an effort to change anything… coughDADcough

[quote]Dre the Hatchet wrote:

Also, I find that if I am really, really tired I can fall asleep on my back very easily.

[/quote]

This made a huge difference for me… Going to bed when I’m actually tired (and keeping my sleep schedule consistent rather than staying up long or till morning one day and then not so long another day etc) is the only way for me to fall asleep without tossing and turning for hours and getting annoyed at my inability to visit dreamland…

Edit: Holy fuck it’s 6 in the morning already. Go figure.

I use about three or four pillows. Once you get to a certain size, it isn’t like sleeping on your side is even comfortable unless your head is supported. I often sleep on my back or my stomach but the pillows allow me to sleep on my side when I choose.

Thanks guys this is all great stuff, I’ll definitely make an effort to sleep on my back, and I like the sound of trying extra pillows, its so common sense I cant believe I haven’t tried it.

Consider a foam mattress too, my arms were always going numb (still do on occasion) with my old mattress.

Also, there’s no way I’m not sleeping on my side. I find the side the most comfortable.