Why and How to Prevent and Stop Supine Sleep (on Back)

Young man with tissue and sleeping on back

Medical research (over 20 Western published studies) testifies about horrible effects of supine sleeping on different groups of adults. There are no publications that discovered any long term benefits of sleeping on one's back. Scientific articles found that sleeping on the back leads to higher incidence of sleep paralysis (with terrifying hallucinations), stroke, asthma, increased airway resistance, and sleep apnea episodes. Several studies found lowered blood oxygenation for sleeping on the back. These abstracts are quoted in Module 6-B: Sleep Positions. As a result, it is smart to stop and prevent supine sleep.

Benefits of the body oxygen test for testing supine sleep

MDs smiling Over 170 Soviet and Russian practical Buteyko breathing medical doctors tested thousands of people with various health problems and suggested that their body oxygen level (the CP test - see instructions in the link below) is the best ever-known health test.

These doctors intensively investigated sleep and its effects. They suggested that supine sleep and mouth breathing during sleep are the key causes that explain highest mortality rates in the severely sick due to chronic diseases. Buteyko doctors also discovered the following order for maximum health benefits:
- sitting
- prone (or on chest)
- left side
- right side
- supine (see the web page Sleep Positions for more detail).

These doctors suggested to use this body oxygen test to check different sleep positions. Perform this test after sleeping in different sleeping positions. Note that you should spend about 10-15 minutes in a certain position in order to achieve a stable metabolism correspondent to this sleeping position before you can measure the effect of any sleeping position on your health.

Man sleeping on back with mouth breathing Sleeping on the back causes lowest body oxygenation since our breathing is unrestricted: our belly and chest muscles can move without any restrictions. As a result, sleeping on one's back intensifies breathing and leads to appearance of the ineffective, heavy, and/or irregular breathing pattern.

If you find that your body oxygen content does not decrease (or maybe even improve) after sleeping on your back, you must sleep on the back all the time. However, all people (who tried so far sleeping on one's back) found that it causes reduced body oxygenation and worst health. (The only exception I have heard about relates to American Indians who probably slept on their backs some 2-3 centuries ago, while propping their heads against a stone so that their chins were pressing against their chests. If you try it, you can find that it is hard to breathe in this position. Furthermore, their sleep was probably about 2 hours due to around 3 min CP - see the Buteyko Table of Health Zones. When you get over 60 s CP, you can sleep in any posture you like and you will have more flexibility and freedom what to do.)

Dr. Buteyko and his colleagues about sleeping on back

Old man sleeping in hospital According clinical observations of Dr. Buteyko (Dr. Buteyko's Lecture in the Moscow State University, 1972),

Many severely sick patients remain sitting up, afraid to lie down. This is sensible. We should lie down only for a minimum amount of time, and only when sleeping. Our patients with deep breathing practice [breathing exercises], but cannot control their breathing at night, and hence, sleep is actually a poison for them. The longer he sleeps, the more chances that his breathing will be increased causing attacks. Therefore, we wake him up after 1-2 hours, he practices decreasing respiration...
Children, especially asthmatics, or the deep-breathing children turn themselves over on the tummy during sleep. And here it begins: the parents are on guard, the fight goes on, sometimes for years. The child turns on the tummy hiding its head under the pillow, but no, they turn him over to face up. Again and again he tries to rescue [himself], but they will not give in. There is no rest for him, nor for the others. And if we take a child sick with asthma, he sleeps on his back and wheezes. He turned on his tummy, the wheezing disappears in a minute. [He is] again on his back: in a minute the wheezing starts again.

Supine sleeping for many sick people means about twice as much breathing and corresponding CP drop. This often causes acute symptoms due to early morning hours and even death in severely sick people.

Medical doctors with smiles Hence, Dr. Buteyko and his medical colleagues who practiced the Buteyko breathing method, and their numerous patients used variety of tools, methods and techniques how to stop or prevent sleeping on the back.

Methods to stop sleeping on one's back

1. Some people were sleeping with a backpack to prevent turning on the back. This is one (“awkward”) option.

2. It is possible to prop oneself from the sides with pillows.

3. Another option is to sew a pocket on the back of your night shirt and put a tennis ball there.

4. Or one can take a sock and wrap it around the middle of a belt making a knot. The belt can be positioned around the middle of the chest with the knot on the back of the person. The knot should be big enough to prevent the person from sleeping on the back and it would not wake the person up since it is soft.

5. Currently, the most popular solution is to take a double cotton layer (strip) of bed linen about 2 m long and 20-30 cm wide. Wrap it around self, make two knots on your chest and move them on your back. A simple scarf can be also used.

Practice of Buteyko breathing teachers shows, that sleeping on the back is the sign of low body oxygen levels. This problem is present when the CP is about 20 s or less. Once, your morning CP is over 25 s, you are very unlikely to sleep on your back at all and there is no need to use any of these techniques.

This manual can be downloaded for printing: PDF Manual "How to prevent or stop sleeping on one's back".

Reference Web Pages: Breathing norms, Medical Graphs and Tables about Breathing Rates (Minute Ventilation) and Body Oxygen in Healthy, Normal and Sick People
Breathing norms Parameters, graph, and description of the normal breathing pattern
6 breathing myths 6 myths about breathing and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
Hyperventilation Definitions of hyperventilation: their advantages and weak points
Hyperventilation Syndrome in the Sick. Table 1. Western scientific evidence about prevalence of CHV (chronic hyperventilation) in patients with various chronic conditions (34 medical studies)
Normal Minute Ventilation in Healthy Subjects: Easy and Light Breathing (14 Studies)
Hyperventilation Prevalence Present in Over 90% of Normal People (24 medical publications)
HV and hypoxia How and why deep breathing reduces oxygenation of cells and tissues of all vital organs
Body oxygen test How to measure your own breathing and body oxygenation (a simple DIY test)
Body oxygen in healthy Table 4. CP (body oxygen level) in healthy people (27 medical studies)
Body oxygen in sick Table 5. CP (body oxygen level) in sick people (14 medical studies)
Buteyko Table of Health Zones with clinical description of most common zones
Morning HV Morning hyperventilation effect or how and why critically ill people are most likely to die during early morning hours

References: CO2 Effects Web Pages
Vasodilation: CO2 expands arteries and arterioles facilitating perfusion (or blood supply) to all vital organs
The Bohr effect How and why oxygen is released by red blood cells in tissues
Cell Oxygen Levels and oxygen transport are controlled by alveolar CO2 and breathing
Oxygen Transport depends on breathing and these two effects (Vasoconstriction-Vasodilation and the Bohr effect) are parts of two diagrams that summarize influences of hypocapnia (low CO2 content in the blood and cells) on circulation and O2 delivery
Free Radical Generation takes place due to anaerobic cell respiration caused by cell hypoxia. Hence, antioxidant defenses of the human body are also regulated by CO2 and breathing
Inflammatory Response is controlled by breathing since hypoxia leads to or intensifies chronic inflammation through over-expression of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1, while normal breathing reduces these processes
Nerve stabilization takes place due to calmative or sedative effects of carbon dioxide in neurons or nerve cells
Muscle relaxation or relaxation of muscle cells is normal at high CO2, while hypocapnia causes muscular tension, poor posture and, sometimes, aggression and violence
Brochodilation - dilation of airways (bronchi and bronchioles) by carbon dioxide, and their constriction due to hypocapnia
CO2: Best Natural Cough Suppressant and "home remedy" since it calms urge-to-cough nerve receptors located in the tracheobronchial tree and larynx
Blood pH regulation and regulation of other bodily fluids
CO2: Lung Damage Healer: Elevated carbon dioxide prevents injury and promotes healing of lung tissues
CO2: Skin and Tissue Healer
Synthesis of Glutamine in the Brain, CO2 fixation, and other chemical reactions
CO2 myth "CO2 is a toxic waste gas" myth
Breathing control How is our breathing regulated? Why hypocapnia makes breathing uneven and erratic?

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