Enhance Your Health
Health Tip of the Week: Incline Sleeping
A few years ago, I read research reporting the benefits of incline sleeping. So, I did it. I lifted the head end of the bed frame about 16 inches by putting three 2x8 boards (one on top of each other) underneath my bed frame. This lifted the bed up to a 6” incline. I have been sleeping like this for at least 4 years now (lol, so has my wife!).
The health benefits include improving blood circulation, improving lymphatic drainage from the brain, improving immune system function, improving respiratory function. Incline sleeping was also found to ease symptoms associated with diabetes, glaucoma, migraines, multiple sclerosis, sleep apnea, acid reflux, edema, varicose veins and more. Wow. Sounds great.
It must be noted that sleeping on an incline is not the same as sleeping on an adjustable bed that allows you to raise the head while the lower portion remains horizontal. Your body has to lay straight, but on an incline. You do not want to look like you are sleeping in a sitting position, like in a Lazy Boy chair.
Archeological evidence suggests some Egyptians slept on inclined beds. A Boston Museum curator confirmed that the incline on one of these historical beds was in fact 6 inches. Leave it to those ancient Egyptians to keep adding discoveries to their resume. Hieroglyphics from ancient Egypt show that the Egyptians were the first to use spinal manipulation for health benefits. They were sort of the first chiropractors.
Speaking of chiropractic (back on topic with incline sleeping), Dr. Peter Martone, a Boston-based chiropractor and physiologist who states how important it is to have proper cervical posture while and how the alignment of your body lying in an inclined position will help your blood to circulate freely throughout your whole body and avoid stress on your hip joint.
On his website, www.InclinedBedTherapy.com, Dr. Fletcher lists a number of methods for creating an inclined bed. For example, you can build your own wooden bed frame, or use leg risers or full-length foam wedges or do what I did and place 2x8 boards under the head of the bed, bed posts.
On his website, Fletcher has a list of dozens of testimonials from people who have tried inclined sleeping with great success for all kinds of issues, from digestion to mobility to fatigue to burn recovery.
According to Fletcher, results also seem to suggest sleeping on an incline helps boost both metabolism and immune function, which could help explain some of these success stories.
Pregnancy Prenatal Chiropractic Care Info
Chiropractic care in pregnancy is vital to the normal internal bodily function of both the mother and baby throughout pregnancy and birth. More women and obstetricians and midwives are discovering the many benefits associated with chiropractic care in pregnancy and the importance of Webster Technique certified pregnancy chiropractors.
The Webster Technique is a specific chiropractic sacral and pelvic analysis and diversified adjustment. The goal of the adjustment is to reduce the effects of sacral / pelvic joint misalignment / subluxation. In doing so, neuro-biomechanical function in the pelvis is improved.
Sacral and pelvic subluxation may contribute to difficult labor for the mother (i.e., dystocia), caused by inadequate uterine function, pelvic contraction, and baby mal-presentation. Correction of sacral subluxation may have a positive effect on all of these causes of difficult labor.
Webster trained chiropractors correct structural alignment issues with the pelvis, sacrum and lumbar spine, this improves neural impulse flow to the mother and the uterus. In addition, chiropractors who perform the Webster technique during pregnancy, provide soft tissue work on the round ligaments which support the uterus. Round ligament tension can cause pain underneath the pregnant abdomen and also constrict the space in the uterus that the unborn baby has to move around in. Constriction of uterine space is a cause of breech baby position. Chiropractors are an essential part of the pregnancy / prenatal health care team.