Have you ever puzzled to what extent the 2 sides of your body mirror every other?
It is quite common for a patient tell ME that every one of their problems appear to happen on only 1 facet of the body. A pain within the left foot, a foul left hip, a foul left shoulder, left-sided abdominal pain, a pain within the neck on the correct side; why?
Why do rashes opt for the left or right facet of the body?
Why will the acuity of the eyes dissent thus greatly from one to the other?
Why will we get pains typically on only 1 facet of the body?
According to Ayurveda, the left facet of the body is totally totally different than the correct facet. whereas i do know it should sound strange, there’s each tried and true knowledge and exciting new science that emphasizes the left facet for rest, sleep, and extremely real health and longevity advantages.
Join ME as we tend to investigate this ancient Ayurvedic conception and see if it still holds water these days.
How You Sleep Matters
A Stony Brook University study suggests that however you sleep might facilitate cut back your probabilities of developing psychological feature issues later in life. (1)
The study, revealed within the Journal of neurobiology, found that the approach a person’s body is positioned whereas they sleep might have an effect on the brain’s waste clearance system, aka the glymphatic system. whereas we tend to sleep, toxins area unit flushed from the brain through little liquid body substance vessels known as glymphatics. The brain dumps around 3 pounds of poisons, chemicals, and plaque out of the brain annually.
Scientists used rodents to check however totally different sleep positions have an effect on this method and located that lying on your facet whereas you sleep is also the foremost economical position for toxins to flush out from the brain through the glymphatics.
The study found that rodents United Nations agency were within the lateral position cleared bound proteins regarding twenty fifth higher than once they were sleeping on their backs or abdomen. These proteins might contribute to the build-up of brain plaque, that is powerfully connected to age-related psychological feature decline. additional studies on humans still got to be done to verify these findings. as luck would have it, the majority notice sleeping on their facet most comfy.
7 Reasons to Try Sleeping on Your Left Side
Here area unit a number of Ayurveda’s reasons for recommending the left facet for sleep:
- Facilitates liquid body substance evacuation from your brain
- Makes it easier for the guts to pump downhill
- higher elimination
- Supports healthy spleen perform
- Encourages correct digestion
- Helps circulation back to the guts
- Helps digestive fluid flow a lot of freely
- The humor Drains toward the Left
Apparently, the left facet of the body is that the dominant liquid body substance facet. 75 % of the body’s humor fluid drains into the lymphatic vessel, that drains into the left facet of the guts, left internal vena, and left vena subclavia. (3) on the approach, humor fluid carrying proteins, glucose, different metabolites, and waste product is clean so drained into the left facet of the guts.
this can be why it’s common in Ayurveda to deduce that left facet ailments is also because of chronic liquid body substance congestion. once the systema lymphaticum congests, it’s a lot of probably that humor can duplicate on the left, a lot of lymph-dominant facet of the body. whereas this can be not invariably the case, you’ll see the Ayurvedic logic at play here.
within the same non-scientific vein, problems that show au fait the correct facet area unit thought to ensue to imbalances within the liver and blood. Since the liver is on the correct facet of the body, liver congestion can a lot of simply duplicate into the correct facet of the body and doubtless cause issues.
The Priority System of the Body
per Ayurveda, congestion happens within the body per a particular pattern, or priority system. during this priority system, the humor is that the body’s initial hospital ward system to occlude, before the liver and blood become flooded.
Thus, early humor problems might gift a lot of on the left facet of the body and move to the correct as they become a lot of long-standing and start to occlude the liver and also the blood, at that purpose symptoms might begin to indicate au fait the correct facet of the body.
Please scan a lot of regarding lymph-related problems within the liquid body substance Health class of my article library.
The Magic of Sleeping on the Left Side
Better Elimination
The little bowel dumps waste through the valve (ICV) on the correct facet of the body into the start of the big bowel. The big bowel travels up the correct facet of the belly across the stomach, wherever it dumps waste into the colon on the left side.
Sleeping on the left side permits gravity to encourage the waste to maneuver a lot of simply from the little bowel into the big bowel through the ICV.
Because the night wears on and you still sleep on your left side, the waste moves a lot of simply into the colon. With the assistance of gravity and an honest night’s sleep on the left facet, the colon is jam-packed with waste and prepared to simply and utterly eliminate within the morning.
Better Heart Function
Of course, one in all the largest players on the left side is that the heart. It is smart that if you sleep on your left side, the humor evacuation toward the guts can, again, be helped by gravity, taking a number of the work off of the guts as you sleep.
The aorta, the largest artery within the body, leaves the highest of the guts and arches to the left before it heads down into the abdomen. By sleeping on the left side, the guts is pumping its biggest payload downhill into the aorta.
Sleeping on the left additionally permits abundant of the intestines to hold faraway from the terribly thin-walled inferior vein (IVC), that brings blood back toward the guts. apparently, the IVC lies against the correct side of the spine, thus after you lie on the left, abundant of the viscus falls faraway from the IVC. Here again, gravity is simply creating the heart’s job a bit easier.
The Spleen Is On the Left
The spleen, that is an element of the systema lymphaticum, is additionally on the left. The spleen is way sort of a mammoth lymph gland, except that additionally to filtering humor, it additionally filters blood. after you lay on the left facet, evacuation back to the spleen is yet again helped and created easier by gravity.
Remember, the humor system drains all the cells within the body via movement and muscular contractions, instead of being pumped-up by the guts. serving to the humor to empty to the spleen and heart with gravity could be a sensible thing!
Ever feel sleepy after a big meal?
A standard apply in Ayurveda is to rest on the left side once a meal. in contrast to a snooze, wherever the entire afternoon is kicked off, Ayurveda suggests a brief, 10-minute rest on the left facet to assist the body properly digest the food.
The abdomen and also the duct gland (which build organic process enzymes) droop like slings on the left side. After you lie on the left side, the abdomen and duct gland droop naturally, leaving best and economical digestion. The food is inspired to maneuver through the abdomen naturally and also the exocrine gland enzymes area unit free PRN, instead of all right away, which could happen a lot of simply than if you were on the correct facet with the pull of gravity.
If you lie on the correct side, the abdomen and duct gland can uphold a somewhat unnatural position, forcing them to empty their contents untimely.
Meanwhile, the liver and bladder droop on the correct facet. Resting on the left facet permits them to hold freely and secrete precious digestive fluid, with the assistance of gravity, into the alimentary canal to emulsify fats and neutralize the acids of the abdomen.
Once the digestive process is inspired during this approach, it will typically be a electric sander and ultimately shorter organic process cycle that doesn’t leave you feeling sapped throughout the complete afternoon. By taking a brief rest on the left side, you’ll really save yourself from a lot of fatigue throughout the day!
