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Comment by bilsbie | Hacker News Reader

> When lying on one side you do not even need the arm as a pillow: when the lower shoulder is fully hunched

Hmm what. That doesn’t sound possible.

been sleeping without a pillow since college. my neck problems disappeared immediately when i made the switch. there are so many unexamined habits in our culture. a lot of defaulting to short-term comfort without considering what the long-term consequences might be, too.

Do you lay on your side at all? I find I cannot sleep through the whole night on my back without getting up and walking around.

i can only sleep on my side. you get used to tucking your chin in as is described in the article pretty quickly

Chin tucking is associated with snoring and apnea, as it closes off part of the airway. Try it for yourself, it's much easier to snore when your chin is either tucked or your head is tilted all the way back, but it's harder when your head is simply upright.

I can assure you it is. You roll your shoulder inwards and sleep with your chin resting lightly on it

I just tried this for 5 minutes. Seems like it works well for me.

The most remarkable part, mentioned in the article, is that the mouth/jaw closes naturally. Very interesting because my mouth naturally hinges open when I sleep on my back (or on my side with pillow). Given the many benefits of breathing through your nose (vs mouth-breathing), I am going to give this sleep position a try for a few nights. Each body is a little different and I enjoy n=1 experiments.

You are right. I sleep on the sides but with pillows, and suspect I am a mouth breather too. But if you don't use the pillows, the mouth does naturally remain closed. However, I am still sceptical about this as without the pillow to support the head / neck, I think breathing is bit more laboured. Moreover, in my experience, sleeping on the side puts a lot of pressure on your neck and shoulders and you often wake up with sore muscles in those parts of the body.

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