# Sleep apnea - don't sleep on your back **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 28, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890 "2025-05-28T02:36:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/21 "2025-05-28T14:56:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I recall reading something that was an excerpt from the biography of the Pope before JP-I, **Paul VI**. > > Who as a boy slept that way to ensure he didn’t unconsciously pleasure himself during the night. I mean, it just seems like good common sense to me, though. Why waste a good self-pleasuring when you’re unconscious? That’s no fun 😏 ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2025, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/22 "2025-10-05T10:20:50Z")
Bumping this thread for some advice. I’ve always snored, since I was a kid. Never really bothered me, I assumed it was normal and I’ve never had a sleep study. But as I get older I’m starting to worry. Tonight I had a scary incident which has happened rarely, perhaps twice before in five years or so. I woke up choking and wheezing - it was as if a film was covering my windpipe. Each time this has happened I bolted out of bed in panic, but after a few seconds of forceful breaths in and out I’m able to breath again. I’m assuming I aspirated in my sleep while on my back. Planning to take the tennis ball advice from earlier in this thread to keep myself on my sides. But I’m wondering what the mechanics of this situation are. Did I aspirate something sticky? What would cover up my airway such that I can’t breath through either my mouth or nose and have to wheeze it out? No food object or anything is expelled, I’m just able to breathe again after a few very panicked seconds. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2025, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/23 "2025-10-05T12:50:54Z")
IANA medic. My bet is you had no actual physical obstruction. If you did, it was nothing but saliva or phlegm. Do you have some post-nasal drip while awake & upright? People who need to snort or swallow throat glop regularly during the day secrete the same goop at night lying down. Apnea comes from nerve / control problems. It’s not that you _can’t_ breath; it’s that your autonomic system isn’t triggering breathing, so you _don’t_ breath. If that temporary intermittent malfunction lasts long enough, you wake up and try to consciously breathe. But there’s a couple / few seconds of twilight consciousness as your brain is waking up. I suspect you were in a state where you could form the conscious idea of wanting to breath, but the part of the brain that controls conscious breathing wasn’t quite online yet. Our internal sense of time is highly distorted while asleep or semi-asleep. What felt like an eternity might’ve been 2 or 3 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2025, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/24 "2025-10-05T13:01:45Z")
After looking around the internet I’m thinking I had a [laryngospasm.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laryngospasm) Other people described something similar, with the primary (and terrifying) symptom of “stridor”, which is a high pitched wheezing when you attempt to breathe. I was definitely conscious when this happened, not in twilight sleep. Apparently, it can be triggered by GERD. I’m going to elevate my head more and stay off my back while sleeping. Again, this has only happened a couple of times over a period of years. But it’s so scary. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/25 "2025-10-06T01:29:42Z")
My understanding is sleeping on your back causes the most apnea events. Sleeping on your side causes fewer, and sleeping on an incline in a recliner causes the least. One guy I saw online said he slept really well when he slept on his stomach on a massage table, those tables with a U shaped cutout for your face. I can understand why, you’d probably have no apnea events sleeping like that. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/26 "2025-10-06T13:23:47Z")
Amazon, etc. sell pillows that mimic the massage table effect. If someone thinks they’re suffering from apnea, or they just like getting a relaxing massage from their SO, one of these is a cheap experiment. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/27 "2025-10-06T13:35:09Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > One guy I saw online said he slept really well when he slept on his stomach on a massage table, those tables with a U shaped cutout for your face. I don’t stay in one position all night, I know I move around; sometimes while sleeping & sometimes I wake up & intentionally roll over. Most massage tables that I’ve seen aren’t as wide as a bed; I’d hate to roll over…& off in the middle of the night. A hard pass for me, TYVM ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/28 "2025-10-06T15:48:31Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I use a CPAP full face mask and I sleep on my sides, and sometimes even on my stomach. I have never in my life liked sleeping on my back, although I think I might re-consider it if I had an adjustable bed, so I could raise the head end. > > I can fall asleep in my recliner, but I am too tall for my head to rest on the head cushion, so my head falls back and my mouth opens and I snore/snort and wake myself up. Quite similar to my situation. I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea in 2003. More than 1 episode per minute per 60 minutes. About…9 years ago I had another sleep study. Found that the apnea was completely resolved BUT I cannot fall asleep without my CPAP. I feel like I’m suffocating. Being morbidly obese is a factor here, no doubt. Anyway, I do sleep on my back as well as both sides. I’m asleep !!!- how could I control it? Due to a spinal fracture I don’t sleep on my back. Ever. I fall asleep when feeling “nappy” if laying on a thick sleeping wedge, OR when sitting on the sofa. It’s an unsatisfactory sleep but I can nap for more than an hour without the CPAP if my head is elevated. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/29 "2025-10-06T18:44:47Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Anyway, **I do sleep on my back** as well as both sides. I’m asleep !!!- how could I control it? Due to a spinal fracture **I don’t sleep on my back**. Ever. Emphasis added. I suspect in the second case you meant to type “on my front.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/30 "2025-10-06T23:14:38Z")
I’m another one who can’t seem to control my sleeping position. I usually fall asleep on my side, but I usually seem to wake up on my back. So apparently, I’m routinely changing positions at some point during the night. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/31 "2025-10-06T23:31:43Z")
I too tend to fall asleep on my side and wake up on my back. I’ve HAD to sleep on my back, the past 3 weeks, and will need to do so for at least a month next year. Not just on my back, but propped up as much as I can. This is not easy. I’ve been really looking forward to side-sleeping again. Dunno what my AHI is like in the various positions - I did my best to “sleep” on my side at the various sleep studies. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2025, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/32 "2025-10-07T02:12:16Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I remember hearing somewhere of a trick where you twist a golf ball into the back of an old t-shirt and tie or sew it so that it stays. That way you’re pretty much guaranteed not to roll over onto your back in your sleep (not for long, anyway). This works. I use a tennis ball. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/33 "2025-10-07T02:14:15Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Never had a sleep study - my insurance wouldn’t cover it and getting on the schedule was insanely difficult. Home sleep studies have improved greatly in the past decade or so. It’s generally a few month wait list, but the actual device and presumably the cost should be reasonable these days even without insurance. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/34 "2025-10-08T01:27:16Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > > [@Cartooniverse](#): > > > > Anyway, **I do sleep on my back** as well as both sides. I’m asleep !!!- how could I control it? Due to a spinal fracture **I don’t sleep on my back**. Ever. > > Emphasis added. I suspect in the second case you meant to type “on my front.” Exactly. My apologies for the typo. I never sleep on my front/ stomach due to the spinal injury and subsequent stenosis/ arthritis in the Lumbar and SI. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/35 "2025-10-08T01:30:02Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I too tend to fall asleep on my side and wake up on my back. > > I’ve HAD to sleep on my back, the past 3 weeks, and will need to do so for at least a month next year. Not just on my back, but propped up as much as I can. This is not easy. I’ve been really looking forward to side-sleeping again. > > Dunno what my AHI is like in the various positions - I did my best to “sleep” on my side at the various sleep studies. Sorry to hear this, hope it’s a temporary thing. [Amazon sells tons of these.](https://www.amazon.com/Orthopedic-Sleeping-Adjustable-Headboard-Triangle/dp/B0D8T3C254/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?crid=1MALFI7O6GBIY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.kO0g2afeYxAfei0fmB6xluKq5wPg0Z-JLuKrC2jP5N5mnPerHA42Gu4vxlUrJcfvjJOQkFJIPJj50OjtNHS6hBTE7-CHi5RN65SmWIUICVGqF9Z_4hTk6S0XkpVNaDRQdgpFIyoeGZY7UcXq56Yai1SHAzhcX7yqixUlXZ5AjldqB4wj0cjSi8Bi-_hYOGi5uCNtBDhluL4l5DCcT009kDiu1MRMUwMUzAvCNrnJuDKTDr6PNcz6C8nrppS96P3gfL1QOTzaGHneVXICItehgi8JFAnZoJKNzi-bnMYc0Bw.DwyhenQwa5yxF90dS43xVEThhPFc4XKxnV-r2jibMKw&dib_tag=se&keywords=Large%2Bsleeping%2Bfoam%2Bwedge&qid=1759886877&sprefix=large%2Bsleeping%2Bfoam%2Bwedge%2Caps%2C117&sr=8-4-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1) This one happens to feature an additional small memory foam like neck support. I’m a fan of this if I have to sleep this way. In September of 2000 I broke my L-3 wide open, like a pita bread torn up, in a ladder fall. I slept on my wedge for… hmm… more than a year. I still have it by the bedside- it’s aces for watching the t.v. And napping. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/36 "2025-10-08T17:46:49Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Home sleep studies have improved greatly in the past decade or so. It’s generally a few month wait list, but the actual device and presumably the cost should be reasonable these days even without insurance. The home study I was given by Kaiser was an oxygen monitor and recorder. It wasn’t testing apnea events, it was testing blood oxygen levels. It strapped to your finger, with a wristlet to keep it in place. Very easy to deal with. If you didn’t qualify with the take-home device, you’d be scheduled for an in-clinic sleep test, which actually did measure apnea events, along with blood oxygen levels. I qualified with the take-home device. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/37 "2025-10-08T18:35:46Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Sorry to hear this, hope it’s a temporary thing. [Amazon sells tons of these.](https://www.amazon.com/Orthopedic-Sleeping-Adjustable-Headboard-Triangle/dp/B0D8T3C254/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?crid=1MALFI7O6GBIY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.kO0g2afeYxAfei0fmB6xluKq5wPg0Z-JLuKrC2jP5N5mnPerHA42Gu4vxlUrJcfvjJOQkFJIPJj50OjtNHS6hBTE7-CHi5RN65SmWIUICVGqF9Z_4hTk6S0XkpVNaDRQdgpFIyoeGZY7UcXq56Yai1SHAzhcX7yqixUlXZ5AjldqB4wj0cjSi8Bi-_hYOGi5uCNtBDhluL4l5DCcT009kDiu1MRMUwMUzAvCNrnJuDKTDr6PNcz6C8nrppS96P3gfL1QOTzaGHneVXICItehgi8JFAnZoJKNzi-bnMYc0Bw.DwyhenQwa5yxF90dS43xVEThhPFc4XKxnV-r2jibMKw&dib_tag=se&keywords=Large%2Bsleeping%2Bfoam%2Bwedge&qid=1759886877&sprefix=large%2Bsleeping%2Bfoam%2Bwedge%2Caps%2C117&sr=8-4-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1) This one happens to feature an additional small memory foam like neck support. > > I’m a fan of this if I have to sleep this way. In September of 2000 I broke my L-3 wide open, like a pita bread torn up, in a ladder fall. I slept on my wedge for… hmm… more than a year. I still have it by the bedside- it’s aces for watching the t.v. And napping I do indeed have one very much like this. The little pillow was useless and it’s gathering dust in the corner; I also found that my head tends to droop to one side, and I found that using a donut-shaped travel pillow helps my head stay put. And OWWWWW on the L3 injury. I’ve now graduated to sleeping just on my back, without being so propped up, and it’s much easier. I’ve even been able to go back to using the CPAP; when propped up, the damn CPAP was just too much extra annoyance. I have tried sleeping on my side but it’s still too painful unless I’m at about a 45 degree angle tilted toward my back vs perpendicular to the bed. Next year, for my big surgery, the plan is to drag my office chair and footstool into the bedroom and sleep in that when I need to be propped up - people recommend using a recliner for that surgery but we already own the other stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/38 "2025-10-08T18:41:18Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > Yes, this is something that the sleep specialist mentioned, though using a tennis ball instead of a golf ball. There are also shirts you can buy that have a pocket in them that you can place a lumpy thing into. I saw no point in making myself wake up even more, so hard pass for me. My husband tried that for a while and it did help, but not enough and of course it wasn’t terribly comfortable. He finally went in for a sleep study and bingo, apnea. He was ruining MY sleep! Having had SIX sleep studies over the years, I won’t do another in-clinic one. The person at the sleep clinic suggested I have a redo soon, given that it’s been 15 years and I’ve had substantial weight loss, but I’m not in a big rush. I think that aging makes me more susceptible even with the weight loss, and I honestly wonder whether muscles might tend to weaken with prolonged CPAP use since they don’t need to do as much work to keep the airways open. I could be full of baloney there, of course. If I do one, it will be the at-home sort. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2025, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/39 "2025-12-12T00:21:44Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Home sleep studies have improved greatly in the past decade or so. It’s generally a few month wait list, but the actual device and presumably the cost should be reasonable these days even without insurance. Wait list? I got my home sleep study completed within a week of when the doc ordered it - device sent out, study done, on video talking to the doc about results. This was through Mayo Clinic; device was a WatchPAT One - oxygen/pulse monitor, a wired sensor on the upper chest, and what looks like a Fitbit on steroids. You can order one online for $189 including an analysis. Results indicated severe obstructive sleep apnea (something physically blocking) with possible central sleep apnea (brain not sending breathing signal) events. Doc is having me do an in-lab study with a CPAP machine before he prescribes CPAP, there is a possibility of a CPAP increasing central sleep apnea events so he want my first CPAP trial to be monitored. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890/40 "2025-12-12T16:19:15Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Results indicated severe obstructive sleep apnea (something physically blocking) with possible central sleep apnea wow. you are going to feel SO much better when this is treated, good for you for getting this done. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-apnea-dont-sleep-on-your-back/1018890.md?page=3)