Modern books, articles, and websites generally suggest that we should select the optimal sleeping position based on less pain in a spine and other parts of the body.
Meanwhile, should we consider the human body as a purely mechanical machine? Could a certain sleeping position be temporary good for a spine, but eventually lead to various health problems due to some fundamental abnormalities created by this "ideal" sleeping position? This is exactly the situation with supine sleep or sleeping on one's back.
Sleeping on one's back or supine sleep, according to medical studies, associates with higher chances of asthma; asthma and allergies in wheezing children; nocturnal asthma;back pain in pregnancy; bruxism and swallowing; bruxism;clenching episodes and gastroesophageal reflux; chronic respiratory insufficiency; cough (nocturnal) and coughing attacks; GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease); health of geriatric inpatients; heart failure with central sleep apnea/Cheyne-Stokes (irregular) respiration; irregular or periodic breathing; health of pregnant women; sleep apnea; sleep paralysis and terrifying hallucinations; snoring; hypopneas and apneas; stroke with sleep apnea; stroke in elderly patients; and pulmonary tuberculosis.
However, there were no published studies that tested effects of sleeping positions on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and many other conditions.
Medical professionals are busy with an eternal search for better drugs, while it is known that severely sick patients are most likely to have exacerbations of their health problems during sleep (from 4 to 7 am).
Furthermore, epidemiological research articles have found the highest mortality rates for these early morning hours.
Would it be smart then to investigate the effects of sleep lifestyle factors (breathing route, sleeping position, air quality, hardness of the bed, thermoregulation, effects of late meals, effects of exercise with mouth vs.
nasal breathing and its duration, etc.
)? Should such research studies be conducted, sleeping on one's back would be declared as a one of the leading immediate causes of mortality in the severely sick.
(The other key cause is mouth breathing during sleep leading to dry mouth in the morning.
) Surely, we are biochemical, not mechanical machines and sleeping positions should be selected according to better health, prevention and treatment of chronic diseases and better well-being in the morning.
Since chronic diseases are based on ineffective breathing and low body oxygenation, choice of optimum sleeping postures for modern people must be based on better respiratory parameters and minimum losses in body oxygenation in comparison with evening values.
Hence, our next question is what is the ideal or optimum breathing pattern for proper body oxygenation? If we consider modern people, dozens of studies found that modern people breathe about 2 times more air at rest than the medical norm.
This norm is only about 6 liters of per minute, while ordinary adults breathe about 12 L/min.
Can overbreathing improve oxygenation of cells and tissues? Thousands of medical publications have revealed that hyperventilation makes us HYPOXIC.
We get less O2 in cells due to 3 factors: 1.
When we breathe more, we start to use chest muscles for respiration.
As a result, instead of normal 98% for oxygenation of red blood cells in the arterial blood, we get less oxygen in the arterial blood.
2.
Since we remove too much CO2, arteries and arterioles get constricted (CO2 is a powerful vasodilator) and all vital organs get less blood supply.
3.
Less oxygen is released in tissues due to the suppressed Bohr effect (CO2 is also the key factor for oxygen release in tissues).
Indeed, not only medical research has found all these effects in vivo and in vitro, you can easily confirm this fact on your relatives and friends.
Normal breathing is light, slow, inaudible, and with strictly nasal breathing.
We take very small and short diaphragmatic inhalations and then have long relaxed and quiet exhalations.
This breathing pattern is also the key criteria for good sleep and best sleeping positions.
You can easily notice that, when we have better health, our breathing during sleep is lighter and slower so that others cannot hear and see it.
Breathing of sick people, on contrary, is fast and noisy due to their ineffective breathing pattern or irregular breathing pattern during sleep.
You can observe this effect, if you pay attention to breathing of your spouse, children and/or relatives and friends during sleep.
When they are healthy, their breathing is quiet and relaxed.
When they are sick, you can easily hear them.
As a next step, you can measure your or their body oxygenation using a stress-free version of the BHT (breath holding time) test.
After usual exhalation, pinch both nostrils and count the number of seconds for the breath hold, but do the test only until first or initial signs of stress or discomfort.
Heavy breathers have short breath holding times, while normal breathing corresponds to 40 seconds.
[Since most modern people breathe twice the norm, they have about twice less oxygen in cells or about 20 seconds.
Sick people usually have less than 15 s BHT after one's usual exhalation.
] You can also test the effects of sleeping postures on your body oxygenation measured in seconds.
Practical experience of Russian and western Buteyko doctors and practitioners found that if you have a certain BHT when you go to sleep, sleeping on a chest (or tummy) or your left side will not change your BHT.
(Your BHT will go down, if you sleep for hours without changes in your body position.
) Sleeping on the right side will cause about 20% reduction in your BHT.
Sleeping on your back will decrease your body oxygenation by around 40%.
Hence, ideal sleep postures are prone and on the left side.
Hence, ideal sleep for modern people should include alternations between these 2 optimal sleeping postures: sleeping on your stomach (or chest) and the left side.
Meanwhile, should we consider the human body as a purely mechanical machine? Could a certain sleeping position be temporary good for a spine, but eventually lead to various health problems due to some fundamental abnormalities created by this "ideal" sleeping position? This is exactly the situation with supine sleep or sleeping on one's back.
Sleeping on one's back or supine sleep, according to medical studies, associates with higher chances of asthma; asthma and allergies in wheezing children; nocturnal asthma;back pain in pregnancy; bruxism and swallowing; bruxism;clenching episodes and gastroesophageal reflux; chronic respiratory insufficiency; cough (nocturnal) and coughing attacks; GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease); health of geriatric inpatients; heart failure with central sleep apnea/Cheyne-Stokes (irregular) respiration; irregular or periodic breathing; health of pregnant women; sleep apnea; sleep paralysis and terrifying hallucinations; snoring; hypopneas and apneas; stroke with sleep apnea; stroke in elderly patients; and pulmonary tuberculosis.
However, there were no published studies that tested effects of sleeping positions on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and many other conditions.
Medical professionals are busy with an eternal search for better drugs, while it is known that severely sick patients are most likely to have exacerbations of their health problems during sleep (from 4 to 7 am).
Furthermore, epidemiological research articles have found the highest mortality rates for these early morning hours.
Would it be smart then to investigate the effects of sleep lifestyle factors (breathing route, sleeping position, air quality, hardness of the bed, thermoregulation, effects of late meals, effects of exercise with mouth vs.
nasal breathing and its duration, etc.
)? Should such research studies be conducted, sleeping on one's back would be declared as a one of the leading immediate causes of mortality in the severely sick.
(The other key cause is mouth breathing during sleep leading to dry mouth in the morning.
) Surely, we are biochemical, not mechanical machines and sleeping positions should be selected according to better health, prevention and treatment of chronic diseases and better well-being in the morning.
Since chronic diseases are based on ineffective breathing and low body oxygenation, choice of optimum sleeping postures for modern people must be based on better respiratory parameters and minimum losses in body oxygenation in comparison with evening values.
Hence, our next question is what is the ideal or optimum breathing pattern for proper body oxygenation? If we consider modern people, dozens of studies found that modern people breathe about 2 times more air at rest than the medical norm.
This norm is only about 6 liters of per minute, while ordinary adults breathe about 12 L/min.
Can overbreathing improve oxygenation of cells and tissues? Thousands of medical publications have revealed that hyperventilation makes us HYPOXIC.
We get less O2 in cells due to 3 factors: 1.
When we breathe more, we start to use chest muscles for respiration.
As a result, instead of normal 98% for oxygenation of red blood cells in the arterial blood, we get less oxygen in the arterial blood.
2.
Since we remove too much CO2, arteries and arterioles get constricted (CO2 is a powerful vasodilator) and all vital organs get less blood supply.
3.
Less oxygen is released in tissues due to the suppressed Bohr effect (CO2 is also the key factor for oxygen release in tissues).
Indeed, not only medical research has found all these effects in vivo and in vitro, you can easily confirm this fact on your relatives and friends.
Normal breathing is light, slow, inaudible, and with strictly nasal breathing.
We take very small and short diaphragmatic inhalations and then have long relaxed and quiet exhalations.
This breathing pattern is also the key criteria for good sleep and best sleeping positions.
You can easily notice that, when we have better health, our breathing during sleep is lighter and slower so that others cannot hear and see it.
Breathing of sick people, on contrary, is fast and noisy due to their ineffective breathing pattern or irregular breathing pattern during sleep.
You can observe this effect, if you pay attention to breathing of your spouse, children and/or relatives and friends during sleep.
When they are healthy, their breathing is quiet and relaxed.
When they are sick, you can easily hear them.
As a next step, you can measure your or their body oxygenation using a stress-free version of the BHT (breath holding time) test.
After usual exhalation, pinch both nostrils and count the number of seconds for the breath hold, but do the test only until first or initial signs of stress or discomfort.
Heavy breathers have short breath holding times, while normal breathing corresponds to 40 seconds.
[Since most modern people breathe twice the norm, they have about twice less oxygen in cells or about 20 seconds.
Sick people usually have less than 15 s BHT after one's usual exhalation.
] You can also test the effects of sleeping postures on your body oxygenation measured in seconds.
Practical experience of Russian and western Buteyko doctors and practitioners found that if you have a certain BHT when you go to sleep, sleeping on a chest (or tummy) or your left side will not change your BHT.
(Your BHT will go down, if you sleep for hours without changes in your body position.
) Sleeping on the right side will cause about 20% reduction in your BHT.
Sleeping on your back will decrease your body oxygenation by around 40%.
Hence, ideal sleep postures are prone and on the left side.
Hence, ideal sleep for modern people should include alternations between these 2 optimal sleeping postures: sleeping on your stomach (or chest) and the left side.