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We’ve likely all fallen asleep in a recliner at some point, typically just dozing off in front of a TV. But have you ever wondered: does sleeping in a recliner help with sleep apnea?
If you’ve been diagnosed with sleep apnea, you might notice an easier time breathing when you’re upright in a recliner rather than lying flat on your back. Let’s talk about the pros and cons of recliner sleeping for people with sleep apnea.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) happens when your airway gets smaller or closes and stops your breathing during sleep. OSA typically happens when the muscles around your throat relax too much while you’re sleeping.
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People who have a family history of sleep apnea, are older, or struggle with obesity can be more at risk for developing OSA.
Other risk factors include narrowed airways, smoking, and being male.
The most common nocturnal symptoms of OSA are loud snoring and pauses in breathing during the night. Both of these stem from the airway having trouble staying open.
Apneas that happen mostly in the supine position (lying on your back) are typically called positional OSA.
Sleeping position has a direct effect on sleep apnea. Certain sleep positions can help the airway to stay open more easily.
When you lie down on your back, gravity has a greater effect on your airway, making it easier for it to collapse. In this supine position, people with OSA typically experience more frequent and more severe episodes of obstruction during the night.
Sleeping in an elevated position changes the way gravity affects your airway and can help keep it more open. Research has shown that an elevated head position can help improve sleep in people with positional OSA.
The elevated head position can help improve the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), which measures how many times your breathing stops during the night. It can also help reduce symptoms such as snoring and improve sleep quality. Even a small level of elevation, such as 7.5 degrees, can have positive effects on OSA and sleep quality.
Sleeping in a recliner will help keep your head elevated during the night. This head-elevated position can help with a few factors related to OSA.
As mentioned above, an elevated head position can help keep your airway open as you try to sleep. This can reduce some episodes of airway collapse throughout the night.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or acid reflux, happens when stomach acid backtracks up into the esophagus. GERD may occur in up to 62 percent of people with OSA.
Sleeping in an elevated position can help reduce GERD symptoms such as heartburn. In an elevated position, stomach acid is less likely to flow back up into the esophagus.
Let’s also talk about what some downsides of sleeping in a recliner might be.
Sleeping an entire night in a recliner can put strain on your neck and shoulders. Recliners don’t have a lot of head and neck support. With your head in an elevated position, it may tend to drift to one side and stay there for a while, which can strain certain neck muscles.
In a chair, you aren’t able to move around naturally like you might in bed. Our bodies naturally shift into different positions to ease discomfort from pressure points during the night. These changes of position can also help prevent some stiffness that can come from stationary positions.
When you are seated, your hips are in a flexed position. You might notice that if you sit at your work desk for a long time, your hip flexors (the muscles on the front of your hip) feel pretty tight when you get up. If you sleep in a recliner, your hips are also going to be in this flexed position, which can further tighten your hip flexors.
When you are upright, your body has to work a bit harder to get the blood from your lower body back up to your heart. Usually when you sleep, you’re flat so the heart can circulate blood more easily because the calf muscles can help return blood to the heart.
If you end up sleeping in a recliner, your circulation could be impaired because the calf muscles aren’t active and being more upright makes blood pool, especially in your legs. This could put you at risk for blood clots.
Poor circulation to your abdomen and changes to your posture can also affect digestion and make it harder for your organs to process food.
If you’ve slept in a recliner and it helped with your OSA symptoms, it may be tempting to keep using it.
While it might be helpful for a couple of nights, it’s not the best long-term solution. Recliners are built for temporary relaxation, like watching a movie or reading a book. They aren’t ergonomically designed to support you during a full night of sleep.
Adjustable bed bases allow you to elevate your upper body and head while still having the full support of a mattress and regular bed setup. There are wedges and specific pillows that can also help keep you elevated in a regular bed.
There are a few other options for sleeping devices that help keep you out of a supine position. Some are positional therapy devices that physically block you from rolling onto your back, while others vibrate to alert you that you’ve shifted onto your back. These can be helpful alternatives to keep you in a side sleeping or stomach sleeping position instead of supine.
While positional therapy, such as sleeping elevated, can help with OSA, it’s not as effective as the use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines. Sleeping elevated is not meant to replace your OSA treatments prescribed by your doctor. Before changing your sleep setup, it’s always best to consult your healthcare team.
On MySleepApneaTeam, people share their experiences with sleep apnea, get advice, and find support from others who understand.
Do you sleep in an elevated position to help with your sleep apnea symptoms? Let others know in the comments below.
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