why is better to sleep on your left side?
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If you are a side sleeper, you should consider sleeping on the left side. It alleviates acid reflux and heartburn, boosts digestion, stimulates the drainage of toxins from your lymph nodes, improves circulation, and helps your brain filter out waste.
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Sleeping on Your Side During Pregnancy Spending the night on your side—specifically the left side—is the best sleep position during pregnancy. “That's to get all the weight of the uterus off the right side to optimize blood flow,” Twogood says.
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Experts agree that you should stick with whatever sleeping habits work best for you. But, that said, sleeping on your back appears to be the healthiest method, followed by your left side, then your right one. Just try to avoid sleeping on your stomach if you can.
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One notable drawback to sleeping on your side is that it can increase your risk of shoulder pain. Whether you're on your left or right side, the corresponding shoulder can collapse into the mattress as well as up toward your neck, creating misalignment and pain the next morning.
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When done correctly with the proper body alignment, sleeping on your side can reduce both joint and low back pain, as well as chronic pain associated with long-term conditions like fibromyalgia. Another benefit to sleeping on your side is reduced snoring, a common symptom seen in obstructive sleep apnea.
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According to scientific research conducted by Van Winkle, people who sleep on their left side are far more at risk of having nightmares, whilst those who sleep on their right have a better quality of sleep due to 'feeling safer'.
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It's also important to sleep on your left side in a non-fetal position. Cons: Sleeping on the left side can put pressure on the stomach and lungs, and affect blood flow, so it is best to switch it up… or you may experience numbness in your arms from resting on one for too long.
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Left-side sleeping may help digestion. There's ongoing question about whether a left-side or right-side sleep position is more healthy for our hearts. Research shows that right-side sleeping may lower nervous system activity, which reduces heart rate and blood pressure.
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It turns out that sleeping your left side may reduce the chances of suffering heartburn. A study from The Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology found that those who slept on their left side were less likely to suffer heartburn problems.
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Spending the night on your side—specifically the left side—is the best sleep position during pregnancy. “That's to get all the weight of the uterus off the right side to optimize blood flow,” Twogood says.
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Some doctors specifically recommend that pregnant women sleep on the left side. Because your liver is on the right side of your abdomen, lying on your left side helps keep the uterus off that large organ.
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Researchers theorize that if we lie on the left side, the stomach and its gastric juices remain lower than the esophagus while we sleep. Boosts brain health. Our minds benefit from side sleeping because we have gunk there, too.
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Sleep on Your Left Side That's correct – the small intestine moves waste to your right side to make its way to the large intestine and then to the lower colon on the left side. This increases the likelihood of having your bowel movement first thing in the morning.
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Boosts brain health. When compared to back or stomach sleeping, sleeping on your left or right side helps your body clear what's called interstitial waste from the brain. This brain cleanse may help reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other neurological diseases.
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Similarly, sleeping on your left side, specifically, could help the flow of blood to your heart. When your heart pumps blood out to your body, it gets circulated and then flows back to your heart on the right side, Winter explains.
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Change Positions Sleeping on your right side can cause heartburn symptoms to flare. Sleeping on your left, however, may ease the discomfort, possibly because it helps to relax the lower esophageal sphincter, which is located between your stomach and esophagus.
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Sleeping on your side The first day, participants rested on their right side after eating a high-fat meal. On the second, they switched to the left side.