Regular physical exercise, a properly balanced diet, and a stress-free lifestyle can help you sleep well at night. But do you know that the way you are sleeping may actually be killing you? While we lie unconscious and flat on the bed for at least one-third of our lives, we might be doing more harm than good to our bodies by resting for hours at length. Learn more about how the way you sleep might harm you in the following article.
How The Way You Sleep Impacts Your Health:
- Do you prefer sleeping on a flatbed with your face down and your eyes and nose compressed by the pillows?
- Do you get to sleep by lying on the back and your head tilted up slightly (practiced in cultures using non-flat surfaces or hammocks for rest)?
The position in which you sleep affects the blood circulation to your brain and head. Gravity affects blood circulation in the brain and is completely mechanical, relating directly to how your head is positioned about your heart. In an upright position, the blood from your heart takes a lot of effort to reach your brain, as it has to work against gravity. However, the blood from the brain gets very easily to your heart in this position, again due to the pull of gravitational force.
On the other hand, when you are lying on the bed in a horizontal position, your heart and head remain on a single plane, preventing gravity from acting on the blood circulation. The intracranial pressure is increased because of the heart’s powerful blood-pumping action (into your head) without any resistance from gravity, and your brain has to send back blood into your heart without the help of gravity. Consequently, a blood backup is created in your brain, lowering brain circulation and increasing intracranial pressure.
Effects of Lying On Bed for a Long period:
This increased intracranial pressure affects your body during sleep, causing excessive cerebrospinal fluid to occupy the brain’s ventricles, which bathes your brain in the excessive liquid. This leads to brain edema, reducing available oxygen and sugar levels in your brain cells. Again, the ineffectiveness of gravity leads to blood backup in your brain’s collecting sinuses and venous system, causing your SleepingCulture.com. When you do so, your body will be more comfortable, and you can lower the impact on your health caused by sleep, including experiencing physical pain in different areas of the body when you wake up. On The Back – Most importantly, you have to try and lie on the back as much as possible during your sleep time. This would prevent any possibility of health hazards caused due to sleep.
Elevated Head Rest –
Whether you use a foam wedge or more pillows, your aim should be to elevate your head between 10 and 30 degrees above the horizontal position. You can also consider upgrading your legs when lying horizontally on the bed.
Recliner –
If you can sleep on a recliner, it eliminates the chances of health problems caused by sleeping. Although the back support offered by a recliner is poor, you can consider adding pillows under your buttocks, arms, and legs to avoid any pain. You can learn from the above that sleeping is an act in which you need to be aware of the position you choose, as it will determine how your health will be affected. Lying flat on the bed for a long time may not be as helpful as you think. So, start exercising caution from this very night!