To The Left, To The Left….

7 Reasons to Try Sleeping on Your Left Side

Hello Golden Divas!

The other day my sister and I were having a conversation about our sleep pattern and how we toss and turn throughout the night to find the perfect position to sleep in to get a good night’s rest.

It seems as though as late no one that I talk to gets a good night sleep, we start off in one position thinking that this is it, it will retain me for the rest of the night and then we find ourselves rotating slowly from right to left like a dang ole Rotisserie chicken. Then the alarm clock goes off, and ‘WE’RE DONE!’ At least for that night and the cycle begins the next night again chasing another good night sleep. 

I mean seriously, have you ever wondered to what extent the two sides of your body mirror each other and what is the best sleeping position for your body?

Ladies, put on your diva thinking caps and think about what side all of your ailments and body issues are on. 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; why?

• Why do rashes choose the left or right side of the body?
• Why does the acuity of the eyes differ so much from one to the other?
• Why do we get pains often on just one side of the body?

Did you know, according to Ayurveda (I will explain this odd name in a minute), the left side of the body is entirely different than the right side. I didn’t know either, and I know it may sound strange; however, there is both time-tested wisdom and exciting new science that emphasizes the left side for rest, sleep, and positive health and longevity benefits.

What is Ayurveda?

The easy answer is that Ayurveda is the 5000-year-old traditional science that was designed to bring the body back into balance to heal itself from the ailment—that in itself is impressive—but underneath that, Ayurveda is so much more.

Ayurveda is a Vedic science. Another Vedic science often called Ayurveda’s sister science, is Yoga. All Vedic sciences are primarily teachings for the development of the full human physical, mental, and spiritual potential.

Ayurveda’s base of knowledge was recorded in a large body of Sanskrit literature that originated in India, called the Vedas. The Vedas are considered to be the oldest written recordings that describe, often in metaphors, ancient principles, practices, and spirituality.

You may have heard of the Vedic warriors—such as Ram, Lakshman, Arjuna, Krishna. These warriors represent beings that have achieved their full spiritual potential, achieved superior physical abilities, and fearlessness through mental and emotional freedom.

Okay, so what is the real meaning behind the strange name  Ayurveda? | Ayurvedic Body Types

In Ayurveda, one’s individual nature is mirrored in their body type, aka DOSHA. The doshas reflect three main governing principles of nature, Vata (air), Pitta (fire), and Kapha (earth-water).

Each person is a unique combination of these three principles or doshas, with different proportions of each existing within.

One’s dosha depicts what and how they eat, how they exercise, when they sleep, and even where they prefer to live.

There are different protocols and recommendations for Ayurvedic herbs, lifestyle, diet, exercise, skin, digestion, lymph, and more that can all be organized into three different body types.

Being aware of your dosha will allow you to identify Ayurvedic protocols to align your internal nature with the larger cycles of life, such as the daily rhythms and seasonal cycles, our circadian rhythms. It’s like having a roadmap that leads you closer to your best self so that you can reach your real potential, and be more radiant and joyful.

With all of the “MOVEMENTS’ going on here is one to get involved with today!

How You Sleep Matters

A Stony Brook University study suggests that how you sleep could help reduce your chances of developing cognitive concerns later in life. The study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, found that the way a person’s body is positioned while they sleep could affect the brain’s waste clearance system, aka the glymphatic system.

While we sleep, toxins are flushed from the brain through tiny lymphatic vessels (we will talk about that in a minute) called glymphatic. The braindumps around three pounds of toxins, chemicals, and plaque out of the brain each year.

Scientists used rodents to test how different sleep positions affect this process and 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 glymphatic.

The study found that rodents who were in the lateral position cleared specific 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. Further studies on humans still need to be done to confirm these findings. Fortunately, most people find sleeping on their side most comfortable. I must admit I love sleeping on my right side…but do it like me.

So What Is The Glymphatic System?

The glymphatic system is a recently discovered macroscopic waste clearance system that utilizes a unique system of perivascular tunnels, formed by astroglial cells, to promote efficient elimination of soluble proteins and metabolites from the central nervous system. Besides waste elimination, the glymphatic system also facilitates the brain-wide distribution of several compounds, including glucose, lipids, amino acids, growth factors, and neuromodulators.

Intriguingly, the glymphatic system functions mainly during sleep and is largely disengaged during wakefulness. The biological need for sleep across all species may, therefore, reflect that the brain must enter a state of activity that enables the elimination of potentially neurotoxic waste products, including β-amyloid. Since the concept of the glymphatic system is relatively new, we will here review its basic structural elements, organization, regulation, and functions. We will also discuss recent studies indicating that glymphatic function is suppressed in various diseases and that failure of glymphatic function, in turn, might contribute to pathology in neurodegenerative disorders, traumatic brain injury and stroke.

7 Reasons to Try Sleeping on Your Left Side

Here are some of Ayurveda’s reasons for recommending the left side for sleep:

1. Facilitates lymphatic drainage from your brain
2. Makes it easier for the heart to pump downhill
3. Better elimination
4. Supports healthy spleen function
5. Encourages proper digestion
6. Helps circulation back to the heart
7. Helps bile flow more freely

The Lymph Drains toward the Left

Interestingly, the left side of the body is the dominant lymphatic side. Seventy-five percent of the body’s lymph fluid drains into the thoracic duct, which drains into the left side of the heart, the left internal jugular vein, and left subclavian vein. Yes, 75% percent ladies! (3) Along the way, lymph fluid carrying proteins, glucose, other metabolites, and waste products is cleansed and then drained into the left side of the heart.

This is why it is common in Ayurveda to deduce that left side ailments may be due to chronic lymphatic congestion. When the lymphatic system congests, it is more likely that lymph will back up on the left, more lymph-dominant side of the body. While this is not always the case, you can see the Ayurvedic logic at play here.

In the same non-scientific vein, issues that show up on the right side are thought to be due to imbalances in the liver and blood. Since the liver is on the right side of the body, liver congestion will more easily back up into the right side of the body and potentially cause problems.

The Priority System of the Body

According to Ayurveda, congestion happens in the body according to a certain pattern, or priority system. In this priority system, the lymph is the body’s first detox system to congest, before the liver and blood become overwhelmed.

Thus, early lymph issues may present more on the left side of the body and move to the right 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.

The Magic of Sleeping on the Left Side

Better Elimination

The small intestine dumps waste through the ileocecal valve (ICV) on the right side of the body into the beginning of the large intestine. The large intestine travels up the right side of the belly across the tummy, where it dumps waste into the descending colon on the left side.

Sleeping on the left side allows gravity to encourage the food waste to move more easily from the small intestine into the large intestine through the ICV.

As the night wears on and you continue to sleep on your left side, the waste moves more easily into the descending colon. With the help of gravity and a good night’s sleep on the left side, the descending colon is full of waste and ready to easily and completely eliminate in the morning.

Better Heart Function

Of course, one of the biggest players on the left side is the heart. It makes sense that if you sleep on your left side, the lymph drainage toward the heart will, again, be helped by gravity, taking some of the workloads off of the heart as you sleep.

The aorta, the biggest artery in the body, leaves the top of the heart and arches to the left before it heads down into the abdomen. By sleeping on the left side, the heart is pumping its biggest payload downhill into the descending aorta.

Sleeping on the left also allows much of the intestines to hang away from the very thin-walled inferior vena cava (IVC), which brings venous blood back toward the heart. Interestingly, the IVC lies against the right side of the spine, so when you lie on the left, much of the viscera falls away from the IVC. Here again, gravity is just making the heart’s job a little easier.

The Spleen Is On the Left 

The spleen, which is part of the lymphatic system, is also on the left. The spleen is much like a gigantic lymph node, except that in addition to filtering lymph, it also filters blood. When you lay on the left side, drainage back to the spleen is once again helped and made easier by gravity.

Remember, the lymph system drains all the cells in the body via movement and muscular contractions, rather than being pumped by the heart. Helping the lymph to drain to the spleen and heart with gravity is a good thing!

Ever Feel Sleepy After a Big Meal?

A common practice in Ayurveda is to rest on the left side after a meal. Unlike a siesta, where the whole afternoon is taken off, Ayurveda suggests a short, 10-minute rest on the left side to help the body properly digest the food.

The stomach and the pancreas (which make digestive enzymes) hang like slings on the left side. When you lie on the left side, the stomach and pancreas hang naturally, allowing for optimal and efficient digestion. The food is encouraged to move through the stomach naturally and the pancreatic enzymes are released as needed, rather than all at once, which might happen more easily than if you were on the right side with the pull of gravity.

If you lie on the right side, the stomach and pancreas will hang in a somewhat unnatural position, forcing them to empty their contents prematurely.

Meanwhile, the liver and gallbladder hang on the right side. Resting on the left side allows them to hang freely and secrete precious bile, with the help of gravity, into the digestive tract to emulsify fats and neutralize the acids of the stomach.

When the digestive process is encouraged in this way, it can often be a smoother and ultimately shorter digestive cycle that doesn’t leave you feeling sapped throughout the entire afternoon. By taking a short rest on the left side, you may actually save yourself from more fatigue throughout the day!

REMEMBER GOLDEN DIVAS… ‘To The Left…To The Left’