The Sleeping Position That’s Best for Brain Health?

The Best Sleeping Position for Optimal Brain Health

Pillows and people are always a lovely match, but there are plenty of other reasons why sleep is so important. Sleep restores, recharges, solves problems, processes emotions and memories leftover from the day, and quite literally, cleanses the brain. Bodies tend to unfold as they want to during sleep, but new research has found that it’s not just sleep that influences brain health, but also sleep position.

During sleep, the space between brain cells expands, allowing fluid to rapidly flow through the brain and wash away toxins that have built up in the central nervous system during waking hours.

[irp posts=”97″ name=”The Remarkable New Discovery About What Your Brain Does While You Sleep”]

 

The efficient removal of waste products from the brain will reduce the risk of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s. 

In a recent study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers investigated how sleeping position affects the removal of toxins from the brain. 

The study found that sleeping on the side was the most efficient way to cleanse the brain of waste, reducing the risk of neurological disease. Evolution might have given us a hand here – sleeping on the side is already the most popular way to sleep for humans and most animals, even in the wild.

The study was conducted on mice – not because researchers wanted to find the best sleep position for tiny four-legged ones with fur, but because of their biological and genetic similarity to humans.

Many types of dementia have been linked to sleep disturbances and difficulties falling asleep. The effective removal of brain waste seems to have an important role in protecting against such disorders. When toxins aren’t eliminated, the risk of memory loss, Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases is increased. Sleep, and more specifically sleeping on your side, facilitates the removal of these harmful brain toxins.

Now … if only the opportunities for peaceful, happy zzz’s were as plenty as the reasons.

 

7 Comments

Sylvia Britton

So many schools of thought – left side so acid reflux doesn’t happen and heart surgery patients are told to do this (I’m one of those), yet I find sleeping on my left side gives me a deeper, more restful sleep. Is either side helpful for flushing CSF, or is one better than the other. The above article says “…the side…”. Has there been other research on which side?

Reply
Olli-Petteri Nivaro

It says ‘lateral position’ (as opposed to prone/supine) so I’m confident that they made the same observation for both left- and right-side sleepers; if there was any significant difference, it would be reasonable to assume that they’d have reported it.

And as far as I can tell, this paper is the first one to address the effect of sleeping position on glymphatic transport (it doesn’t sound like an experiment that you’d readily come up with and get funds for, either), and since it was published in August 2015, I wouldn’t expect any additional info on this subject — at least from research using human subjects — before 2016.

Reply
Betty

What would be the safest thing to take to help you sleep through the night? I enjoy a glass of wine each evening before bed but dont think it has anything to do with waking up repeatedly. Thank you

Reply
Pia Gundersen

That was an interesting article. How, specifically, does the brain do this? What happens in the brain during sleep and where does the waste go?
Thank you.
Pia

Reply
Hey Sigmund

During sleep, the cells in the brain shrink, allowing an opening up the space between the cells. This allows cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) – which usually covers the surface of the brain during the day – to flow through the brain and take toxins with it. The CSF flows through a kind of plumbing system called the glymphatic system, which appears to be able to work 10 times harder when we’re asleep. There enormous amount of energy required to pump CSF. The brain has enough to do while during waking hours, so this pumping takes place while we’re asleep. In lab experiments with mice, it has been found that waste from the cells is flushed out via the blood vessels in the brain, into the circulatory stytem f the body and eventually into the liver. Hope that makes it clearer.

Reply

Leave a Reply to Olli-Petteri Nivaro Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Join our newsletter

We would love you to follow us on Social Media to stay up to date with the latest Hey Sigmund news and upcoming events.

Follow Hey Sigmund on Instagram

The more we treat anxiety as a problem, or as something to be avoided, the more we inadvertently turn them away from the safe, growthful, brave things that drive it. 

On the other hand, when we make space for anxiety, let it in, welcome it, be with it, the more we make way for them to recognise that anxiety isn’t something they need to avoid. They can feel anxious and do brave. 

As long as they are safe, let them know this. Let them see you believing them that this feels big, and believing in them, that they can handle the big. 

‘Yes this feels scary. Of course it does - you’re doing something important/ new/ hard. I know you can do this. How can I help you feel brave?’♥️
I’ve loved working with @sccrcentre over the last 10 years. They do profoundly important work with families - keeping connections, reducing clinflict, building relationships - and they do it so incredibly well. @sccrcentre thank you for everything you do, and for letting me be a part of it. I love what you do and what you stand for. Your work over the last decade has been life-changing for so many. I know the next decade will be even more so.♥️

In their words …
Posted @withregram • @sccrcentre Over the next fortnight, as we prepare to mark our 10th anniversary (28 March), we want to re-share the great partners we’ve worked with over the past decade. We start today with Karen Young of Hey Sigmund.

Back in 2021, when we were still struggling with covid and lockdowns, Karen spoke as part of our online conference on ‘Strengthening the relationship between you & your teen’. It was a great talk and I’m delighted that you can still listen to it via the link in the bio.

Karen also blogged about our work for the Hey Sigmund website in 2018. ‘How to Strengthen Your Relationship With Your Children and Teens by Understanding Their Unique Brain Chemistry (by SCCR)’, which is still available to read - see link in bio.

#conflictresolution #conflict #families #family #mediation #earlyintervention #decade #anniversary #digital #scotland #scottish #cyrenians #psychology #relationships #children #teens #brain #brainchemistry #neuroscience
I often go into schools to talk to kids and teens about anxiety and big feelings. 

I always ask, ‘Who’s tried breathing through big feels and thinks it’s a load of rubbish?’ Most of them put their hand up. I put my hand up too, ‘Me too,’ I tell them, ‘I used to think the same as you. But now I know why it didn’t work, and what I needed to do to give me this powerful tool (and it’s so powerful!) that can calm anxiety, anger - all big feelings.’

The thing is though, all powertools need a little instruction and practice to use them well. Breathing is no different. Even though we’ve been breathing since we were born, we haven’t been strong breathing through big feelings. 

When the ‘feeling brain’ is upset, it drives short shallow breathing. This is instinctive. In the same ways we have to teach our bodies how to walk, ride a bike, talk, we also have to teach our brains how to breathe during big feelings. We do this by practising slow, strong breathing when we’re calm. 

We also have to make the ‘why’ clear. I talk about the ‘why’ for strong breathing in Hey Warrior, Dear You Love From Your Brain, and Ups and Downs. Our kids are hungry for the science, and they deserve the information that will make this all make sense. Breathing is like a lullaby for the amygdala - but only when it’s practised lots during calm.♥️
When it’s time to do brave, we can’t always be beside them, and we don’t need to be. What we can do is see them and help them feel us holding on, even in absence, while we also believe in their brave.♥️
Honestly isn’t this the way it is for all of us though?♥️

#childanxiety #parenting #separationanxiety

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This