What’s the Best Position to Sleep When on Period?

If your regular time of the month always seems to come with many restless nights, you’ll no doubt know just how difficult it can be to find the best position to sleep in when on your period.

What’s worse is that all that lack of sleep can make you feel even more miserable during what can be, let’s face it, a pretty uncomfortable time.

That’s why we put this comprehensive guide together, to help you finally enjoy the kind of peaceful, quality sleep you deserve.

Below, we’ll talk you through the best sleep positions for period pain, the one position it’s best to avoid, and other helpful things you can do to improve your nightly downtime.

Why is it Hard to Sleep When on Your Period?

It’s no secret that trouble sleeping is a common occurrence during periods.

In fact, while at least 10% of the global population are said to suffer from insomnia, that number is twice as high for women with PMS.

Although medical experts are still debating precisely why this happens, numerous studies do offer a few solid explanations as to why your monthly cycle may be causing you to wake up multiple times in the night.

These include:

1. Hormone Changes

The most obvious explanation as to why so many of us struggle to enjoy peaceful sleep during our period is simply down to fluctuations in our hormones.

In the weeks leading up to your period, the production of progesterone hormone ramps up so that it can be ready for a potential pregnancy.

If you haven’t conceived, those progesterone levels drop significantly, which starts your period.

What does this have to do with sleep? Pretty much everything.

Progesterone has been shown to have a strong sleep-inducing property; it affects your ability to doze off and the quality of sleep you get.

Thus, the lower your progesterone levels, the harder it is to sleep.

It’s also interesting to note that progesterone has been linked to cases of breathing-related sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea which may be causing you further problems during those nighttime hours.

The good news is that once the bleeding subsides, those progesterone levels rise again, which explains why you can sleep better when you’re not on your period.

2. Body Temperature Changes

Progesterone doesn’t just directly impact our body’s ability to shut down. Fluctuating levels of both this hormone and its counterpart, estrogen, can play havoc with our body temperature.

Estrogen helps lower body temperature, while progesterone can increase it. During the late-luteal phase, progesterone rises again, but it’s not uncommon for women to have lower estrogen levels during this time.

This imbalance can cause our body temperature to rise by as much as one degree, which may not sound like much but can lead to a decrease in REM sleep and thus more wakefulness.

3. Mood Changes

Lots of us experience some signs of Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), particularly changes in our mood. However, when our mood takes a significantly lower dip than usual, this is known as Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD).

Women with PMDD can struggle with clinical levels of depression and anxiety, particularly in the lead-up to the period.

The relationship between depression, anxiety, and our ability to sleep is bidirectional. In other words, depression and anxiety can lead to sleep issues, while a lack of quality sleep can worsen those conditions, which impacts our mood even further.

To sum up, our menstrual cycle can cause depression, which causes us to have sleeping difficulties, which makes the depression worse, and so on.

4. Pain, Bleeding, and Bloating

Last but not least, we can’t underestimate the impact of common period symptoms on our ability to sleep.

Dealing with period pain is rarely the same as dealing with back pain or other muscular issues. Instead, it can be an intensely uncomfortable experience that has the unfortunate ability to keep us up all night.

The same can be said for bloating, and if you’re one of the 14% of women who experience heavy bleeding during their period, it could simply be a case that your sleep is disrupted by a need to get out of bed to change your menstrual products.

Later in this guide, we’ll talk you through some helpful suggestions to help you tackle all three of these probable causes of period-related insomnia, but first, let’s talk about those all-important sleep positions.

The Top 3 Best Positions to Sleep During Your Period

Regardless of whether you’re on your period or not, sleeping on your side is commonly regarded as one of the all-around best sleeping positions to adopt for a good night’s rest.

When it’s your time of the month, you may want to slightly adjust the typical side-sleeping position and choose one of the following positions to enjoy uninterrupted sleep despite your period.

1. The Fetal Position

The absolute best position to sleep in when on your period is on your side in the fetal position.

To do this, simply lie on the side that’s most comfortable and pull your knees up to your chest.

This helps reduce pressure on your abdominal muscles, preventing added tension from exacerbating your period cramps.

In this position, you may find it useful to tuck a pillow in your knees. This not only helps you to keep that position once you drift off; but can also help to maintain your spine’s natural curve so that you can sleep more comfortably.

2. The Recovery Position

The fetal position may be the optimum sleeping position during the menstrual cycle, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the perfect position for everyone.

If you’re feeling bloated, you may find that tucking your knees up like that only makes things worse, in which case, you can try sleeping in the recovery position instead.

To do this, lie on your side with your top leg bent up towards the tummy and the bottom leg pointing straight out.

The bottom arm should be bent and tucked either underneath your pillow or under your head on top of the pillow. Here, your top arm falls across your body so that the fingers are roughly in line with your top knee.

This can be used to improve circulation while you sleep, which can be effective in minimizing any physical discomfort and helping you to relax into a restful sleep.

Again, you can use pillows to support you with this. The best approach is to place one or two behind the back to help you maintain that comfortable posture.

3. On Your Back

Of all the three recommended sleep positions for PMS-based insomnia that we’ve looked at today, lying on your back is probably one of the least helpful, though don’t count it out entirely.

Back sleeping can help to alleviate pressure on the uterus, as well as minimize tension on other pressure points around the hip and pelvis area.

On the downside, it can also cause increased leakage during the night, so it’s perhaps a position best left as a last resort.

If lying on your back is your usual preferred sleeping position, but you find it too uncomfortable when on your period, you can modify your usual body position by placing a pillow beneath your knees to make it more conducive to reducing discomfort.

Why You Shouldn’t Sleep on Your Stomach When on Your Period

Our advice to avoid sleeping on your stomach when pregnant may seem obvious if you’ve conceived, but what’s the harm in doing so when you’re menstruating?

Simply put, lying in this position can cause a squeeze down on your uterus, intensifying what may well already be painful period cramps.

How to Sleep Better During Your Period: Do’s and Don’ts

So, you’ve learned the top three sleeping positions for period-related insomnia, but adopting either the fetal or recovery position is far from the only thing you can -or even should- do to prevent your monthly cycle from keeping you up all night.

Here are a few pre-bed suggestions to help you prepare for a solid night of quality sleep.

Do: Stick to a Regular Sleep Schedule

Developing and maintaining an effective sleep schedule has been shown to help you sleep better for longer, which already gives you an advantage in terms of overcoming insomnia.

Yet that’s not all.

Inconsistent sleep schedules have been linked to low mood and depression, which, as we discussed earlier, can have a further detrimental impact on our ability to sleep well.

Don’t: Consume Too Much Caffeine (especially before bed)

If you read our guide to the most essential things to avoid before bed, you’ll find caffeine consumption right up there, with drinking alcohol as one of the biggest causes of poor sleep quality.

Too much coffee or soda is going to make it much more difficult to switch off at night, even if your menstrual discomfort isn’t too bad.

Do: Keep Your Bedroom Cool

Remember earlier in this guide when we said that hormonal changes could lead to an increase in body temperature? Although this can have a negative impact on our sleep quality, it’s also one of the easiest problems to address.

Using a fan can help maintain a cooler temperature which negates your body’s natural temperature increase. Better yet, a cool-mist humidifier can help maintain the best temperature for sleep but also improve air quality which can help if you’re having sleep-related breathing issues.

Don’t: Neglect Your Physical and Mental Wellbeing

Research shows us that taking time out to regularly practice yoga for one month can considerably reduce PMS symptoms such as cramps.

Regular aerobic exercise makes a similar, though less significant, impact.

Meanwhile, taking some time to incorporate relaxation into your nightly ritual can also make a big difference to your overall mood and physical wellbeing.

Putting your devices away, taking a relaxing bath with essential oils, and perhaps even learning how to meditate in bed can all prove effective in countering those sleep-disrupting low moods and bouts of depression that are common in Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sleeping on Your Period

What is the best side to sleep on during your period?

Though lying on either side in the fetal position will help you sleep when on your period, the left side, in particular, has been shown to have the most overall health benefits.

How do I stop my period from leaking when I sleep?

Sleeping on your side, using pads with wings, and wearing your most comfortable pants can all help reduce leaking but may not stop it altogether.

Can melatonin help with PMS?

Yes. Hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle can mean that our bodies don’t produce enough melatonin, meaning melatonin supplements may be effective in reducing PMS insomnia.

The Best Way to Sleep When on Your Period: |A Final Piece of Advice

In this guide, you’ve learned that lying in the fetal position is the best position to sleep when on period. You’ve also learned that keeping a cool, relaxed bedroom environment and a regular sleep schedule can further help improve your sleep quality.

Though that should be all you need to know to prevent period pains from keeping you up all night, there is one final piece of advice we’d like to leave you with:

Ultimately, the best position to sleep in is any that you find most comfortable.

Though experts do recommend the fetal position, if you try sleeping like that and it only serves to make you uncomfortable, then it defeats the whole purpose.

Likewise, though sleeping on your back may be the least recommended option, if it works for you, go ahead and use it.

After all, what really matters here is ensuring you enjoy the kind of peaceful night’s rest you deserve.

Sarah Wagner

I'm Sarah Wagner, and I founded Sweet Island Dreams in 2022. It's a blog dedicated to helping people mental vacation virtually anytime they want. By providing information about the best sleep of your life, I help people drift away to paradise without ever having to leave their bed!