After a simple internet search, you can easily figure out that up to about 90-100% of sources suggest that sleeping on one's back (or supine sleep) is the best or correct sleep position due to minimum tension for a back. Nearly all of these articles are written by chiropractors, doctors, alignment specialists, nurses, who consider the human body as a mechanical device with angels, bones, curves, tension, pressure.
Although having sensible objectives in relation to other people, this naive perception of the human organism produces catastrophic consequences on health of modern day humans.
Specialized medical study publications have uncovered that sleeping on one's back is the most harmful sleep posture for:
- snoring, hypopneas and apneas, - sleep paralysis and terrifying hallucinations, - stroke in elderly patients, - chronic respiratory insufficiency, - pulmonary tuberculosis treated by thoracoplasty, - sleep apnea, - heart failure with sleep apnea, - bruxism and clenching episodes, - coughing attacks, - asthma and allergies, - health of pregnant women, - asthma, - irregular or periodic breathing, - stroke with sleep apnea, - back pain in pregnancy, - health of geriatric inpatients.
For medical abstracts and references related to all these ailments, click on the link in the resource box below: "Best Sleeping Postures". There are no physiological papers that found benefits of sleeping on one's back for any usual health concern.
Is there any common underlying mechanism since numerous studies revealed the same damaging consequence for supine sleep for very different health troubles? Authors of several medical papers found the biggest reduction in oxygenation of the arterial blood for sleeping on one's back in comparison with lateral sleep (left side or right side) and prone sleep (sleeping on the stomach, chest or belly) (Hjalmarsen & Hykkerud, 2008; Trakada et al, 2003; Szollosi et al, 2006; Fast & Hertz, 1992). It is a common finding that reduced body oxygenation is the critical factor that leads to advancement of cancer, asthma, heart disease, COPD, arthritis, diabetes, and virtually any other chronic disease.
Furthermore, professional studies have clearly established highest mortality rates and most defined acute symptoms during early morning hours (from about 4 to 7 am) for COPD, sudden cardiac arrest and deaths, epilepsy seizures, cerebral ischemia and stroke, diabetes, coronary spasms, asthma, inflammatory disorders and morning sickness. Other professional articles devoted to circadian variations in several physiological parameters in healthy subjects also found that these early morning hours are their most unfortunate times. For medical references and quotes related to these effects, visit the link below "Morning Heavy Breathing Effect".
What is the reason? If you observed respiratory movements of people sleeping on their backs, you can realize 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 chest and abdomen are not confined and can freely move in and out without any [resistance. When we sleep on sides or belly, breathing movements are confined. Hence, sleeping on one's back lowers oxygen content in 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 diminished oxygenation of tissues for overbreathing are following:
1. With very small normal breathing (only 6 liters per minute; 10-12 tiny breaths per minute), human arterial blood is nearly 97-98 percent saturated with oxygen. Hence, big or deep breathing cannot increase oxygenation of the arterial blood.
2. Most hyperventilators are chest breathers. Lowest segments of our lungs do not get new air volume with top oxygen content. Consequently, oxygenation of the arterial blood gets smaller.
3. Overbreathing ends up in CO2 deficiency in the blood and body cells and that immediately leads to 2 effects: A) constriction of blood vessels (less blood and oxygen is distributed to all important organs of the human body) and B) suppressed Bohr effect (less oxygen is dropped in tissues by red blood cells since this oxygen release is controlled by carbon dioxide). Both these effects REDUCE oxygen and blood supply to cells promoting asthma, cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, stroke, arthritis, epilepsy, COPD and many other common problems.
Sleep is not a joke to think about bones only. It is a deathful venom for the chronically sick since millions of individuals die every year because of the effects of sleep, where supine sleep is one of the leading factors.
Therefore, best or ideal sleeping positions must be chosen based on best possible personal breathing parameters (easier and slower breathing) and maximum body oxygenation results. A specialized stress-free breath holding time trial is the easiest way to choose your best individual sleeping postures.
Although having sensible objectives in relation to other people, this naive perception of the human organism produces catastrophic consequences on health of modern day humans.
Specialized medical study publications have uncovered that sleeping on one's back is the most harmful sleep posture for:
- snoring, hypopneas and apneas, - sleep paralysis and terrifying hallucinations, - stroke in elderly patients, - chronic respiratory insufficiency, - pulmonary tuberculosis treated by thoracoplasty, - sleep apnea, - heart failure with sleep apnea, - bruxism and clenching episodes, - coughing attacks, - asthma and allergies, - health of pregnant women, - asthma, - irregular or periodic breathing, - stroke with sleep apnea, - back pain in pregnancy, - health of geriatric inpatients.
For medical abstracts and references related to all these ailments, click on the link in the resource box below: "Best Sleeping Postures". There are no physiological papers that found benefits of sleeping on one's back for any usual health concern.
Is there any common underlying mechanism since numerous studies revealed the same damaging consequence for supine sleep for very different health troubles? Authors of several medical papers found the biggest reduction in oxygenation of the arterial blood for sleeping on one's back in comparison with lateral sleep (left side or right side) and prone sleep (sleeping on the stomach, chest or belly) (Hjalmarsen & Hykkerud, 2008; Trakada et al, 2003; Szollosi et al, 2006; Fast & Hertz, 1992). It is a common finding that reduced body oxygenation is the critical factor that leads to advancement of cancer, asthma, heart disease, COPD, arthritis, diabetes, and virtually any other chronic disease.
Furthermore, professional studies have clearly established highest mortality rates and most defined acute symptoms during early morning hours (from about 4 to 7 am) for COPD, sudden cardiac arrest and deaths, epilepsy seizures, cerebral ischemia and stroke, diabetes, coronary spasms, asthma, inflammatory disorders and morning sickness. Other professional articles devoted to circadian variations in several physiological parameters in healthy subjects also found that these early morning hours are their most unfortunate times. For medical references and quotes related to these effects, visit the link below "Morning Heavy Breathing Effect".
What is the reason? If you observed respiratory movements of people sleeping on their backs, you can realize 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 chest and abdomen are not confined and can freely move in and out without any [resistance. When we sleep on sides or belly, breathing movements are confined. Hence, sleeping on one's back lowers oxygen content in 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 diminished oxygenation of tissues for overbreathing are following:
1. With very small normal breathing (only 6 liters per minute; 10-12 tiny breaths per minute), human arterial blood is nearly 97-98 percent saturated with oxygen. Hence, big or deep breathing cannot increase oxygenation of the arterial blood.
2. Most hyperventilators are chest breathers. Lowest segments of our lungs do not get new air volume with top oxygen content. Consequently, oxygenation of the arterial blood gets smaller.
3. Overbreathing ends up in CO2 deficiency in the blood and body cells and that immediately leads to 2 effects: A) constriction of blood vessels (less blood and oxygen is distributed to all important organs of the human body) and B) suppressed Bohr effect (less oxygen is dropped in tissues by red blood cells since this oxygen release is controlled by carbon dioxide). Both these effects REDUCE oxygen and blood supply to cells promoting asthma, cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, stroke, arthritis, epilepsy, COPD and many other common problems.
Sleep is not a joke to think about bones only. It is a deathful venom for the chronically sick since millions of individuals die every year because of the effects of sleep, where supine sleep is one of the leading factors.
Therefore, best or ideal sleeping positions must be chosen based on best possible personal breathing parameters (easier and slower breathing) and maximum body oxygenation results. A specialized stress-free breath holding time trial is the easiest way to choose your best individual sleeping postures.
SHARE
