If you are anything like me, you will not give the posture you choose much thought.
When it comes time to finally hit the hay, you have just about enough energy to drag yourself to the bedroom and turn the lights off before you fall asleep. You have come home from a long day at work, played with the kids, cooked food, put the kids to bed, and maybe had some time to relax in front of the TV or read a book.
People have different schedules, of course, but my point is that I have never really thought about how I sleep. The crucial thing is that, indeed, I get enough sleep before the craziness starts afresh tomorrow.
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Well, apparently not. Finding out that your body is going through a lot when you grab your advised eight hours—often less, I’ll admit—may not surprise you. This makes it quite interesting to consider the way you claim those hours. Even down to something as apparently flimsy as the side you lie on.
Most of us have, as it were, a favorite “sleeping style”. That is to say, a side of taste when we are claiming forty winks. Some choose to sleep on their left side, some on their right. Hey, some take the pharaoh posture and lie on their back, sleep the entire night.
However, it turns out that sleeping on your left side has a lot of possible health advantages; we felt it only appropriate that we let you know about a few of them great folks.
Where therefore is all of this coming from? While the side you sleep on will finally come down to personal taste when comfort is taken into account, sleeping on your left side is reported to help with the following: A few different web sites actually.
Heartburn Tonight
Sleeping on your left side could help with acid reflux or gastroesophageal reflux disease. This posture helps the stomach stay below the esophagus, therefore reducing the chance of acid leaking back into the esophagus and often resulting in the painful sensation of heartburn.
Spleen and hepatic performance
We then possess spleen function. Sleeping on your left side supports your immune system and helps blood flow to the organ, so enabling its more effective filtration of toxins from your body.
Given that your liver is on the right side of your body, similarly it can benefit. Choosing to sleep on your left side helps your body eliminate any poisons and drugs, therefore facilitating their processing.
Women who are pregnant
Pregnant women should, if at all feasible, sleep on their left side, according to the Sleep Foundation, since it facilitates heart pumping of blood through the body. This is especially crucial in the last trimester since left-side sleeping helps cardiac function and releases pressure on the liver (as already mentioned).
Generally speaking, side-sleeping is safer when pregnant since sleeping on one’s back has been linked in certain studies to a higher risk of late stillbirth.
Correct bowel movement
Located on the left side of your body, the ileocecal valve—which I never heard of either—connects the large and small intestines. Sleeping on your left side apparently helps waste flow from the small to the big intestine more effectively. Gravity helps the process, therefore enhancing waste removal and bowel motions.
When should one think about switching sleeping positions?
Having said all that, resting on your left side is not a necessary and other sleeping postures have proven advantages.
Most importantly is that you feel comfortable throughout night and ready to change positions should you discover that one certain position is not working for you. If you spend hours at a time lying in the same position, side sleeping—for example—may aggravate already existing problems in, say, your shoulders since you are naturally favoring one side.
At least something from this post should have taught you. When you sleep, do you have a favored position? If so, assist us to start a conversation and post it in the comments.
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