Most of us get around 8 hours of sleep per night. This means that we’re actually asleep for about a third of our lives!
Sleep is really important for our wellbeing, so if you often get a bad night’s sleep, you won’t only feel tired — your whole body can fall out of balance.
After a recent study by the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, we’ve also come to the learn that it isn’t how much sleep we get that counts, but how we sleep.
The study specifically shows that our sleeping position can have a dramatic effect on our health.
1. Better for the heart
Sleeping on your left side makes it easier for the body to pump blood around itself. This is because the arteries are on the left. When we sleep on our right side, the blood has to pump upwards first. However, if you sleep on your left side the arteries get a little help along the way.
2. Good for digestion
When we sleep on our right side, it’s easier for stomach acids to run out into the esophagus, which causes heartburn. So if you have digestion problems it’s important that you sleep on your left side so that your stomach acid doesn’t run out.
3. Improves lymphoid drainage
Sleeping on our left side is also better for our lymphoid draining system, the study shows.
The lymphoid draining system transports important nutrients, as well as cleans the body through getting rid of things that it doesn’t need.
4. Better suited to our anatomy
Both the stomach and pancreas are on the left side of the body. Therefore, the body has to work harder if we sleep on our right side.
5. Releases pressure from the spleen
The spleen is also on the left side of the body. The spleen’s job is to clean our blood. Waste products are transported via our lymphoid system to the spleen, which can reject the products quicker. Sleeping on your left side helps the spleen work more effectively.
Here’s a video explaining it all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=58&v=Hg7wN2kIr6c
With so many advantages to sleeping on the left side, it’s really impossible to not give it a chance — in any case, it can’t hurt!
Share this with all your Facebook friends, if you also love enjoying a good night’s sleep!
