Short answer: No single position is best for everyone. On your back the weight is evenly spread but snoring is often worst. On your side, fewest neck symptoms are reported. On your stomach breathing is unobstructed, but on a flat mattress your neck has to turn far.
On your back
Your weight is evenly spread and your spine can keep a neutral line. The downside is breathing: for snoring and sleep apnoea the back is the least favourable position, and in an average of 56 percent of people with sleep apnoea the severity is directly linked to it.1
On your side
The most common position, and in research on sleep position the one in which the fewest neck and shoulder symptoms on waking are reported.5 Points to watch are the shoulder you lie on and the height of your pillow: too low or too high bends the neck.
On your stomach
Favourable for breathing, but on a flat mattress straining for the neck, because you have to turn your head far to the side to breathe. Stomach sleepers accordingly report the highest rates of neck symptoms on waking.5 If the pelvis sinks in as well, the lower back arches.
What you can take from this
The comparison is not about right and wrong, but about where the strain lands. In research on morning symptoms, what mattered most was the time spent still in a straining position.4 A position you do not keep up also changes nothing: the position you fall asleep in is hard to unlearn.
More practical than switching position is usually removing the strain within your own position. For stomach sleepers, that means taking the neck rotation out, which is what a mattress with a face opening is for.
Read also: stomach sleeping and neck pain, stomach sleeping and snoring and sizes and size advice. By complaint: sleeping with neck pain, sleeping with back pain and sleeping with shoulder pain.
Frequently asked questions
What is the healthiest sleeping position?
There is no position that is best for everyone. What matters is that your spine stays in a neutral line and that you can keep the position up comfortably.
Which sleeping position causes the fewest neck symptoms?
In research, side sleepers report the fewest neck symptoms on waking and stomach sleepers the most, mainly because of the neck rotation on a flat mattress.
Updated on 22 October 2026.
SleepLab One is not a medical device and does not replace a diagnosis or treatment. If your symptoms persist, talk to your GP or physiotherapist. The studies the numbers refer to are listed in the references; they are about sleep position and mattresses in general, not about this mattress.