Being dealt with dementia is a daunting prospect, and most of us will do whatever we can to avoid this debilitating disorder of the brain which is irreversible.
Leading a balanced lifestyle, eating better, and taking care of your health are important, but did you know that how you sleep can also be part of the regimen to lower your risk of getting Alzheimer’s?
Studies have found that sleeping in a certain position helps lower the risk of dementia. The lateral sleeping position or side sleeping is considered one of the healthiest sleep positions. Aside from reducing the risk of snoring, sleep apnea, heartburn, back pain, and improving gut health, side sleeping also helps your brain to clear out interstitial waste faster than other positions. This can potentially reduce your risk of developing neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.
In a research published in the Journal of Neuroscience, it was discovered that sleeping on your side as opposed to sleeping on your stomach or back, may be a more advantageous position for your brain to clear out its waste while you sleep. Your brain has the ability to get rid of debris throughout the day and night and the bulk of this important work is done at night while you sleep.
Researchers in the study used an MRI to monitor the brain’s glymphatic pathway, the system that removes the wastes from your brain. The researchers that analyzed the sleep positions found out that the side sleeping position allows for faster waste removal than either the back or stomach sleeping positions. One of the brain wastes is Beta-amyloid proteins, the proteins that form plaque associated with Alzheimer’s disease. This finding leads researchers to believe that sleeping positions could be a factor in developing neurological diseases.
The study of glymphatic pathways has so far only been conducted on rodents, and the researchers believe that the same benefits of side sleeping would apply to humans, although they say further studies are needed to confirm this finding.
Best Practices For Side Sleeping
If you’re not used to sleeping on your side, make sure you’re set up with a good side-sleeping pillow. Side snoozers generally need thicker pillows to fill the space beneath their head and neck, so avoid pillows that are too thin without ample cushioning or excessively thick pillows that will interfere with spinal alignment and lead to more pressure points.
A medium to high loft pillow with a thickness of at least 4 inches is what side sleepers would usually need. This is to keep your head, neck, and spine in proper alignment. The pillow loft is still dependent on both the shape of your body and how much you sink into your mattress.
Depending on whether you have any existing health issues, there may be some benefits to sleeping on your left side over your right.
Right side sleeping may increase pressure on your internal organs, which is why pregnant women and those suffering from acid reflux are advised to sleep on their left.
If you suffer from constipation, try sleeping on your left to encourage bowel movement. Left side sleeping could potentially allow gravity to help with the process of moving your waste from the ascending colon into the transverse colon, and finally dumping it into the descending colon.
Whether you’ve been a side sleeper all this while or are new to this position, it’s important to get it right to avoid insomnia and waking up to aches and pains the next morning.
- Choose a medium-firm mattress as it’s been demonstrated to help reduce pain in side-sleepers.
- Lie on your side with your head on a firm pillow. Try to position your ears to be in line with your shoulders, with your chin neutral. Avoid tucking your chin into your chest or keep your head down.
- Align your chin and neck to the centre of your shoulders. And try to align your shoulders with your hips.
- Your head should look forward in a way that your chin does not tilt down to your neck or twist to the side. This is to prevent painful neck and shoulders.
- Use a bolster or place a small pillow between your knees to relieve pressure on the hips and prevent your knees from knocking onto each other.
- Place your arms and hands below your face and neck, preferably parallel to the sides. If you suffer from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, sleeping on your side may exacerbate the numbness and discomfort. Wearing a wrist splint can prevent any discomfort from side sleeping.
- Lift your knees toward your chest slightly to minimize pressure on your back.
Conclusion
Good, deep sleep is important for everyone at any age. Sleep disturbances as well as the position that you sleep in are linked to many types of dementia.
A hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease is the build-up of the waste Beta-amyloid proteins in the brain, which causes plaques. The plaques consequently result in the loss of connections between nerve cells in the brain leading to the death of those cells and a loss of brain tissue.
Although studies await testing in humans, scientists speculate that the side or lateral sleeping position has an advantage as regards the removal of metabolic waste from the brain, because clinical studies have shown that sleep drives these wastes from the brain.
The side sleeping position has been found to be the most advantageous position for your brain, with the position helping your brain to remove interstitial waste faster than other sleeping positions.
If you’ve been a supine sleeper all your life, why not try the lateral position for better brain health? If sleeping on your side is causing you discomfort and pain, you can seek chiropractic care to help aid in your sleep so that you wake up in the morning feeling well-rested and free from any aches and pains.
Health Freak Mommy is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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