The Best Side to Sleep On

Avoid the right side. It may not be the best idea, especially for your heart, according to sleep specialist W. Christopher Winter, MD, medical director of the Martha Jefferson Hospital Sleep Medicine Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, who spoke with CNN about side sleeping. Winter told CNN your blood flows throughout your body and eventually returns to the heart on the right side. But when you sleep on your right, “the pressure of your body smashes up against the blood vessels that return to your ticker.” Meanwhile, “sleeping on your left side with your right side not squished is supposed to potentially increase blood flow back to your heart,” Winter said.