Do Not Trust Web Sources About The Best Postures For Sleep

Do Not Trust Web Sources About The Best Postures For Sleep

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It may look like a real surprise that the most popular web artiles about sleep suggest that the best sleep posture is on one's back. The majority of these popular articles are written by doctors (!), alignment specialists, chiropractors, nurses, who consider the human body as a mechanical device with bones, pressure, tension, angels, curves. While having best aims in relation to other people, this primitive perception of the human organism produces devastating effects on health of modern individuals.

Professional medical research publications (over 20 medical studies) have established that sleeping on ones back is the most evil sleep position for:
- GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), - health of pregnant women, - sleep apnea, - back pain in pregnancy, - asthma and allergies, - sleep paralysis and terrifying hallucinations, - chronic respiratory insufficiency, - nocturnal asthma, - heart failure with sleep apnea, - bruxism and swallowing, - bruxism and clenching episodes, - snoring, hypopneas and apneas, - coughing attacks, - health of geriatric inpatients, - pulmonary tuberculosis treated by thoracoplasty, - stroke in elderly patients.

For medical abstracts and references related to all these ailments, check out the link in the resource box below: "Best Sleeping Positions". There is no a single clinical study that uncovered advantages of sleeping on ones back for any popular health predicament.

Is there any common foundational mechanism since numerous studies revealed the same negative effect for supine sleep for very different health troubles? Authors of several research articles found the biggest reduction in oxygenation of the arterial blood for sleeping on ones back in comparison with lateral sleep (left side or right side) and prone sleep (sleeping on the stomach, chest or belly) (Fast & Hertz, 1992; Szollosi et al, 2006; Trakada et al, 2003; Hjalmarsen & Hykkerud, 2008). It is a proven fact that reduced oxygenation of cells is the critical factor that leads to progress of COPD, asthma, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and virtually any other chronic disease.

Furthermore, clinical articles have clearly found highest mortality rates and most distinguished acute symptoms during early morning hours (from about 4 to 7 am) for inflammatory disorders, coronary spasms, cerebral ischemia and stroke, sudden cardiac arrest and deaths, diabetes, epilepsy seizures, COPD, asthma and morning sickness. Other scientific studies devoted to circadian variations in a range of physiological parameters in healthy individuals also established that these early morning hours are their most extreme times. For medical references and quotes related to these effects, visit my website or watch this YouTube video clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj_8J8BcTi8 "How We Breathe in the Morning".

What is the physiological mechanism? If you observed breathing process of people sleeping on their backs, you can discover that they breathe more (e.g., faster and deeper) in comparison with any other sleep posture. For example, snoring is a very common outcome present for many persons only during their supine sleep. Why? This is because our rib cage muscles and belly are not constrained and can freely move in and out without any resistance. When we sleep on sides or abdomen, breathing movements are restricted. Hence, sleeping on ones back decreases oxygenation of cells due to overbreathing or hyperventilation (or breathing more than the tiny medical norm: 10-12 breaths per minute and only 4-6 l/min at rest).

The exact reasons for lowered oxygenation of the body for overbreathing are following:
1. With minute normal breathing (only 6 liters per minute; 10-12 tiny breaths per minute), human arterial blood is nearly 98% saturated with oxygen. Hence, heavy or deep breathing cannot enhance oxygenation of the arterial blood.
2. Most hyperventilators are chest breathers. Lowest parts of human lungs do not get fresh air quantity with great oxygen content. Consequently, oxygenation of the arterial blood is decreased.
3. Overbreathing ends up in CO2 deficiency in the blood and body cells and that immediately results in 2 effects: A) constriction of blood vessels (less blood and oxygen is provided to all important organs of the human body) and B) suppressed Bohr effect (less oxygen is discharged in tissues by red blood cells since this oxygen release is operated by carbon dioxide). Both these effects DIMINISH oxygen and blood supply to cells promoting obesity, stroke, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, heart disease, arthritis, cancer, COPD and many other common problems.

The process of sleep is not a joke to pay attention to bones only. It is a deathful poison for the chronically ill since millions of men and women die every year because of the consequences of sleep, where supine sleep is one of the leading factors.

Therefore, best or ideal sleeping positions must be selected based on optimum personal respiratory parameters (easier and slower breathing) and maximal body oxygenation results. A specialized stress-free breath holding time check is the easiest way to choose your best individual sleep positions.

About the Author:
"Best Sleeping Positions" - Medical research summary.

Good Sleep Hygiene: Medical review of key sleep lifestyle factors.

Dr. Artour Rakhimov is the author of books and the educational website www.NormalBreathing.com devoted to natural self-oxygenation and breathing education. The website has hundreds of medical quotes, graphs, charts, tables, trials...



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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