Sleep expert reveals 3 best positions for your health — and your relationship

December 13, 2023

These sleep poses are so easy you could do them with your eyes closed — and they may benefit both your health and your relationship.

Sleep posture expert James Leinhardt posted a video to TikTok revealing the three best sleep positions for couples looking for a good night’s rest.

Leinhardt, founder of mattress and pillow company Levitex, said that not only do these positions keep your spine straight, but some even trigger the release of the “love hormone” oxytocin and can improve your spouse time.

“The secret to a happy relationship might be a position you haven’t tried,” said Leinhardt in his video, which has more than 97,000 views since being posted last month.

The dreamer

“I do this with my wife every night. I call it the dreamer,” Leinhardt said in the video as his wife Tallulah demonstrated the position.

In the clip, his wife sleeps on her side and has a pillow in between her knees, all the way down to her lower legs.

“Shoulders, hips, knees and ankles all stacked on top of each other so that spine is nice and straight,” he said of the position’s spine-happy benefits.

Leinhardt said he joins his wife in this position.

“Get a pillow between my knees and ankles and now I can spoon my missus, so not only is she gonna be benefitting from the hugs that she absolutely loves so much, but also the calming chemical oxytocin is gonna run through,” he explained.

Not only do they both get a flood of happy hormones, he claimed, but they also “get what we call a neutral resting spine.”

Back-to-back dreamer

This position is just like the dreamer, except instead of hugging your spouse, both members of the couple sleep on their sides facing outwards. He said this is an ideal position if he fights with his wife, which “never, ever happens,” he joked.

“Then we could just go back to back — that’s also fine,” he said.

The soldier

The position in which people lay on their backs with their arms on their sides is commonly referred to as “the soldier.”

Leinhardt shared how he and his wife sleep in this position so that they ensure optimum spine health and relationship wellness.

“For those of you that can’t lie on your side and you wanna lie on your backs, that’s also fine to me,” he said.

“Stick a pillow underneath your knees … and then you can just hold hands,” he explained.

Commenters below his video thanked him for his advice.

“Oooh, will have to give this a go!!” one person exclaimed.

“Love this! Science behind spooning,” another added.

“Got to try this,” said a third.

The tips could potentially prevent couples from going through a sleep divorce, the act of sleeping in a different room or different bed to improve shuteye.

And for couples who have tried every sleeping position, only to keep fighting over the blanket, they can add the Scandinavian sleep method to their bag of tricks.

That practice involves getting two comforters so that one spouse doesn’t hog a single shared blanket in the night.