What are comfortable ways to sleep during my period

There's no research on the best position, but lots of people find sleeping on their side, curled up with their knees bent, the most comfortable, maybe because it lets the tummy muscles relax.

Positions that help

• Sleeping on your side with your knees bent up towards your chest. This may ease pressure on your tummy muscles, and some people find it makes cramps feel a bit better.
• Sleeping on your side with a pillow between your knees. This keeps your hips and spine lined up, which may help if your lower back aches on your period.
• Sleeping on your back with a pillow under your knees. This takes the pressure off your lower back while keeping you supported.

Sleeping flat on your stomach can put extra pressure on your lower belly and might feel pretty uncomfortable if you already have cramps, so switching to your side is usually easier.

Tips for staying cozy and leak-free

Nighttime pads that are longer in the back or period underwear designed for overnight give you extra coverage so you do not have to worry about leaks while tossing and turning. If blood still leaks onto your bed even with overnight protection, you need a new pad every 1 to 2 hours, or you pass clots bigger than about 2.5 cm, tell a grown-up. In the daytime, change your pad every 4 to 6 hours, sooner on heavy days. At night you do not need to wake up to change it: a fresh pad or overnight pad put on at bedtime usually lasts until morning.

If cramps are keeping you awake, a heat pad, or a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel that a grown-up fills, can help while you get comfy, and in a few small studies heat worked about as well as medicine. Take it out of your bed before you fall asleep, because heat left against your skin while you sleep can burn. There are medicines that help period pain, and a grown-up decides if you take one, which one and how much, for your age and weight. They tend to work best when a grown-up starts them as soon as the cramps begin and keeps them going for the first two or three days. Once a grown-up can tell when your period is coming, starting a day or two before can help even more.

Tell a grown-up if the pain stops you doing normal things like school, doesn't get better with the pain relief a grown-up gives you, or keeps getting worse from one period to the next.