Are you a side sleeper or do you tend to sleep on your back? The answer could determine the quality of your sleep, which is tied to a host of health issues, experts say.

Shelby Harris, a sleep medicine expert and a professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. tells Popular Science the best sleeping position is on your back.

It helps reduce aches and pain, and it doesn't cause heartburn because your head is elevated above your chest.

But sleeping on your left side is also fine, if you snore or have heartburn. Sleeping on your right side may even aggravate heartburn, some research found.

Experts say a muscle in your esophagus that keeps acid in your stomach and out of your throat is loosened by sleeping on your right side, worsening the conditon. If you sleep on your left side, this muscle keeps it shut.

Harris also advises using pillows thick enough to support your head, and tucking one under or between your knees to support your lower back..

The worst sleeping position is on your stomach, she adds. This puts pressure on your entire body and increase the odds of walking up in pain, or with numbness and tingling.