In this day and age, getting any good sleep at all seems hard enough most days. Being told there is an ideal way to sleep might seem like a joke to the sleep-deprived.
But there’s growing evidence as well as ancient wisdom (whichever you find more compelling) suggesting that sleeping on your left side is ideal for your spine, your breathing, your digestion, and your lymphatic system. Of course, this is only the case if you don’t have an injury or something else preventing you from doing it comfortably.
The theory of left being the best side for sleeping originated in the ancient Indian medical system known as Ayurveda. According to Ayurvedic medicine, sleeping on your left side allows the body to filter lymph fluid and waste via the lymph nodes more effectively, since it considers the left side of the body to be the dominant lymphatic side.
Modern research as well has shown that this sleep position can help the body process waste materials from the brain. But the best study we have so far has only been conducted on rats and they could be sleeping on either side. It merely showed that side sleeping was better at processing waste materials than sleeping on their backs or stomachs.
As for digestion, sleeping on the left side allows food waste to move from your small intestine to your large intestine and into your colon more effectively. Again, the idea originates in ancient medicine but has been supported by modern research, which also claims that sleeping on your left side can reduce acid reflux.
In this case, it did matter which side the subject slept on since right-side sleepers experienced higher rates of heartburn (but note, they were fed a high-fat, heartburn-inducing dinner first – heartburn can also be avoided by a healthy diet).
Doctors also recommend left-side sleeping to pregnant women because it improves circulation to the fetus and prevents the uterus from pressing against the liver. Pregnant women, as well as other side sleepers, should try to stretch out a bit as well, instead of curling up into the fetal position so as not to crowd their lungs and diaphragm and limit deep breathing.
Side-sleeping, in general, is recommended for back pain too, though there is some conflicting advice out there, so it really does depend on what works best for you personally. But it also tends to reduce snowing, so perhaps it’s wise to take your bedmate into account as well.
Sleeping on your side can sometimes aggravate shoulders and cause numbness, but not nearly as much as sleeping on your stomach. Doctors disagree on whether side sleeping is best for your back, but you can benefit from placing a pillow between your knees to reduce any strain on your lower back if you are a side sleeper. There are doctors who argue that the spine is in ideal alignment when sleeping on the left.
If you really want to try sleeping on your back to see if you feel the health benefits, there are some easy ways to do it, such as putting a pillow against your back to prevent you from rolling over.
Of course, a lot of your posture issues are going to come from the quality of your mattress and pillows as well as your sleep position.
While it appears there are some great benefits to sleeping on your left side, especially if you’re pregnant or suffer from heartburn, you should always talk to your doctor about what’s best for you personally.
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