The recovery position can help you or someone else recover

Most people prefer to sleep on their side, either the right or left. There are problems with sleeping on your back or face down, like with breathing or being uncomfortable by having your weight smash in your nose.

Generally speaking, lying on the left is better than lying on the right. The left is preferred. There’s even a special name for it: the recovery position.

Can it help you recover from the day?

Read on and find out!

The origins of the recovery position

The idea that there’s a certain position that’s preferred for recovery comes from the history of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). People can and do pass out from a variety of medical emergencies like severely low blood sugar, seizures, poisoning, strokes, and going into shock. The CPR process is useful in any of these situations.

Vomiting is a common problem. It complicates resuscitation. If you’re taking care of someone who’s unconscious, the natural tendency is to keep them on their back. You could see if they’re waking up. You can watch their breathing. It’s better for watching them.

You want to make sure that they’re breathing. You’ll watch their chest rise and fall. That’s easily done when they’re lying on their back. You, however, don’t want to keep them in that position. People can vomit when they pass out. When that happens, you’ve got another emergency on your hands, especially if you don’t have something to suction them with. The vomit can fall back into their throat and make breathing impossible.

In the hospital and the back of an ambulance, they have a special kind of vacuum cleaner with a wandlike tip (a Yankauer) that can slip down someone’s throat and get that junk out of there. When you’re at home, out in the park or in the event hall—wherever the person passes out—you’re not going to have that vacuum.

That’s when you’re going to need to use the recovery position.

They used to say that the person should automatically go on their left side. Now they say that either side can work, but with the exception that if person who passed out happens to be a pregnant woman, she should go on her left. It’s easier to remember to put everyone on their left side, but it’s good to know that they can be turned on either side if you have to change their position.

Sleeping in the recovery position

Many people sleep on their left side instinctually. It feels better unless there’s a good reason not to. Sometimes, some light is streaming through on the left. Sometimes, you want to cuddle your partner. Sometimes, you’re tired of lying on the left side, and you want to move to the right. But that left side is favored for most people, most of the time. You, too, can cough up something in your sleep, causing you to wake up. Keep this in mind and you can design your sleeping room to help you sleep better.

 

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James Cobb RN, MSN founded the Dream Recovery System in 2018.