Anyone who's ever been pregnant will know that getting into a comfortable sleeping position can sometimes be near impossible.
However, what if the position you nodded off in actually had an impact on both maternal and fetal health?
This was discovered in a recent study published in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
They found evidence to suggest that positional sleep therapy during pregnancy may have a positive impact on maternal and fetal health.
They found that the supine position - which is sleeping on your back - is apparently not recommended.
Positional therapy is the recommended course of action to rectify this, and it is defined as, ''a well-accepted way to reduce supine sleep time and increase side-sleeping in adults with sleep-disordered breathing."
So should pregnant women try and sleep on their back less?
The study found that most pregnant women spend about 25 percent of their sleeping time lying on their backs, and this may raise the risk of stillbirth and low birth weight.
It means that the weight of the pregnant uterus slows the return of blood to your heart - basically, the baby is receiving less oxygen and fewer nutrients.
The study outlined that researchers worked with 25 healthy women during late pregnancy, between 32 and 38 weeks of gestation.
Women were evaluated for two consecutive nights while they slept at home - one night stood as the control and during the intervention night, women slept while wearing the PrenaBelt, which is a positional therapy tool designed specifically for use with pregnant patients.
Media time spent sleeping in the supine position was reduced from 48.3 minutes during the control night to only 28.5 during the night using the PrenaBelt.
Researchers measured maternal heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and sleep and breathing parameters - all of which improved with the PrenaBelt.
According to principal investigator Jane Warland, the ''using positional therapy to keep the pregnant mother off her back may reduce supine sleep in late pregnancy and may also provide both maternal and fetal health benefits, with minimal impact on maternal perception of sleep quality and sleep time.''
Food for thought, isn't it?
