Many people suffer from problems with sleep. If you don’t have a proper sleep, it will end up in depression, high blood pressure, high stress, and increased weight.
You need to sleep 7-8hours per night and there are also other factors you should consider. It’s not only the time you spend on the bed; you need to do what’s required to get quality sleep.
The position of our body is one of the major factors for quality sleep.
When we sleep on our left side, it improves the quality of the sleep says Chiropractor and sleep expert Dr. John Douillard. Sleeping on our left side improve health levels and increases our longevity and help with heartburn relief, heart pumping efficiency, help with lymphatic drainage and reduce snoring.
Dr. Douillard says that “Emphasizing the left side for rest and sleep offers some time-tested wisdom for very real health and longevity benefits.”
Have you ever think of what extent the two sides of your body mirror each other?
Most of the patients tell that they have issues on just one side of the body. Why there is a pain in the left foot, a bad left hip, a bad left shoulder, left-sided abdominal pain, a pain in the neck on the right side?
The rashes choose the left or right side of the body, the acuity of the eyes differ so greatly from one to the other, we get pains often on just one side of the body. But, why?
The left side of the body is completely different than the right side according to Ayurveda. Even though it’s a little bit strange, there is both time-tested wisdom and exciting new science that emphasizes the left side for rest, sleep, and very real health and longevity benefits.
Here, we investigate this ancient Ayurvedic concept and see if it still holds water today.
How You Sleep Matters
According to a study in Stony Brook University, how you sleep could help reduce your chances of developing cognitive concerns later in life.
According to the study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, the way a you sleep could affect the brain’s waste clearance system, aka the glymphatic system. Toxins are flushed from the brain through tiny lymphatic vessels which is called glymphatics when we are asleep. In each year, the brain dumps around three pounds of toxins, chemicals, and plaque out of the brain.
According to the rodents used by scientists to test how different sleep positions affect this process, found that lying on your side while you sleep may be the most efficient position for toxins to flush out from the brain through the glymphatics.
According to the results of the study, rodents who were in the lateral position cleared certain proteins about 25% better than when they were sleeping on their backs or stomach. These proteins may contribute to the build-up of brain plaque, which is strongly linked to age-related cognitive decline. To confirm these findings it still need to studies on humans. But, most people find sleeping on their side most comfortable.
7 Reasons to Try Sleeping on Your Left Side
According to Ayurveda, here are some recommendations to sleep on left side:
- Facilitates lymphatic drainage from your brain
- Makes it easier for the heart to pump downhill
- Better elimination
- Supports healthy spleen function
- Encourages proper digestion
- Helps circulation back to the heart
- Helps bile flow more freely
The Lymph Drains toward the Left
The dominant lymphatic side is the left side of our body. 75% of the body’s lymph fluid drains into the thoracic duct, which drains into the left side of the heart, left internal jugular vein, and left subclavian vein. The proteins, glucose, other metabolites, and waste products carrying by the lymph fluid is cleansed and then drained into the left side of the heart.
That’s why Ayurveda deduce that left side ailments also because of chronic lymphatic body substance congestion. It’s like that lymph can back up on the left, more lymph-dominant side of the body when the lymphatic system congests.
Due to the imbalances within the liver and blood, problems in the right side area thought to be in the same non-scientific vein. Liver congestion will simply back up into the right path of the body and cause issues as the liver is on the ride side of the body.
The Priority System of the Body
Congestion happens in the body in keeping with a particular pattern, or priority system says Ayurveda. The body’s first detox system to congest is the lymph, before the liver and blood become engulfed during this priority system
As they become more long-standing and begin to congest the liver and the blood, at which point symptoms may start to show up on the right side of the body, early lymph issues may present more on the left side of the body and move to the right.
Please read more about lymph-related problems in the Lymphatic Health of my article library.
The Magic of Sleeping on the Left Side
Better Elimination
The small intestine dumps waste through the valve (ICV) on the right side of the body into the start of the large intestine. The large intestine travels up the right side of the belly across the stomach, where it dumps waste into the colon on the left side.
Sleeping on the left side permits gravity to encourage the waste to maneuver very simply from the small intestine into the large intestine through the ICV.
The waste moves more simply into the colon as the night wears on and you sleep on your left side. The descending colon is filled with waste and prepared to simply and fully eliminate in the morning with the assistance of gravity and a good night’s sleep on the left side.
Better Heart Function
The heart is one amongst the largest players on the left side. If you sleep on your left side, the body fluid drain toward the heart will, again, be helped by gravity, taking some of the workload off of the heart as you sleep.
The largest artery in the body, the aorta, leaves the top of the heart and arches to the left before it heads down into the abdomen. The heart is pumping its biggest payload downhill into the aorta by sleeping on the left side.
Sleeping on the left also permits the intestines to hold away from the very thin-walled inferior vena (IVC), which brings venous blood back toward the heart. Curiously, the IVC lies against the right side of the spine, thus when you lie on the left, the viscera organ falls away from the IVC. So, gravity is simply creating the heart’s job a bit easier.
The Spleen Is On the Left
A part of the lymphatic system is the spleen, and it is also on the left. The spleen is far sort of a large lymphatic tissue, except that additionally to filtering lymph, it also filters blood. Drainage back to the spleen is once more helped and created easier by gravity when you lay on the left side.
The lymph system drains all the cells within the body via movement and muscular contractions, instead of being pumped by the heart. It is good to help o the lymph to drain to the spleen and heart with gravity.
Ever Feel Sleepy After a Big Meal?
Rest on the left side after a meal is a common practice in Ayurveda. According to Ayurveda, it is good to have a brief, 10-minute rest on the left side to assist the body properly digest the food.
The stomach and pancreas (which make digestive enzymes) hang like slings on the left side. The stomach and pancreas hang naturally, giving optimal and efficient digestion when you lie on the left side. The food is inspired to maneuver through the stomach naturally and therefore the pancreatic enzymes are release as needed, instead of all promptly, which could happen more simply than if you were on the right side with the pull of gravity.
The stomach and pancreas can hang on a somewhat unnatural position, forcing them to empty their contents untimely if you lie on the right side.
And also the liver and gallbladder hang on the right side. Resting on the left side permits them to hold freely and secrete precious bile, with the assistance of gravity, into the digestive tract to emulsify fats and neutralize the acids of the abdomen.
When the digestive process is inspired, it will typically be a smoother and ultimately shorter digestive cycle that doesn’t leave you feeling sapped throughout the afternoon. You will really save yourself from additional fatigue throughout the day by taking a brief rest on the left side.