7 Key Health Benefits of Sleeping on Your Left Side

Everyone longs to sleep like a log after working hard throughout the day. A comforting sleep is most important part in daily life to stay healthy and fit. Usually there are three sleeping postures; sleeping on your back, sleeping on stomach and on the sides. Researchers have found that your sleeping pose has great impact on your overall health and slumber. Poor sleeping posture is triggering factor for backache, neck pain, sleep apnea, headache, and several other disorders. While every sleeping posture has its own pros and cons, sleeping on left side has been known to have more benefits from rest of the poses.

Benefits of sleeping on left side:

Researchers have found several benefits of sleeping on left side. Let us know them:

1. Helps in easy digestion of food: Lying on left side has its own benefits on the digestive process. First of all stomach as well as pancreas is located on the left side. This helps to increase their function. Because of gravitation the food passes smoothly from stomach. It also increases pancreatic efficiency as the enzymes are released easily. The liver situated on the right side experiences less strain and hence it the flow bile, a digestive juice becomes easier.
   Lying on left side also enables easy movement of waste from the colon into the rectum.
2. Prevents snoring: Sleeping on left side is known to reduce snoring or sometimes completely prevent it. The reason given is that when lying on side, your airways remain open as the tongue and muscles of throat remain in neutral position without deviating on one side. Sleeping on back increases snoring as the muscles of throat push backwards obstructing the air passage.
3. Relief from back and neck pain: Sleeping on left side with a pillow between your legs. The pillow allows managing proper alignment between the pelvis, hip and spine thus reducing stress on back muscles. The best position is to sleep on left side curled up in fetal position.
4. Beneficial for pregnant woman: Experts suggest that the best sleeping position for pregnant woman is lying on left side. First of all it reduces pressure from back and hence reduces risk of backache during pregnancy. It also accelerates flow of blood to the uterus as well in the fetus.
5. Improves heart circulation: Almost 80 percent of heart is on left side. Sleeping on left side improves heart circulation. It reduces pressure on vena cava, the great vein which collects blood from periphery and brings it into the heart. Lying on left side also enables easy flow of blood from aorta to lower body. Hence the pumping load on heart is reduced.
6. Filters and purifies toxins from lymph: The lymphatic vessels are more located on the left side of body. It makes easier for the lymph to flow towards the thoracic duct which also located on the left side. Sleeping on left thus eases passage of lymph fluid together with the toxins in it from the lymph nodes.
7. Reduces heartburn: Sleeping on left side reduces heartburn caused due to acid reflux. It reduces backflow of the stomach content in the lower end of esophagus.