Why and How to Prevent and Stop Supine Sleep (on Back)
Module 6 (Part A). Best sleeping positions and supine sleep
Medical research (over 20
Western clinical studies) testifies about adverse effects of
supine sleeping on different groups of adults. These studies 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
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 (which is measured with the CP test - see instructions
in the link below) is the best ever-known health-state indicator.
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 of sleeping positions for maximum health benefits (the best at
the top and the worst and the bottom):
- sitting
- prone (or on one's chest)
- left side
- right side
- supine (see
the web page Sleep Positions for more
detail).
These doctors suggested using 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.
Sleeping
on the back causes the 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 it even improves) after sleeping on your back, you must sleep on the back all the time. However, all people (who tried so far sleeping on their back) found that it causes reduced body oxygenation and has the worst impact on 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 in what you without negative health effects.
Dr. Buteyko and his colleagues about sleeping on back
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 a corresponding CP drop. This often causes acute symptoms during early morning hours and even death in severely sick people.
Hence, Dr. Buteyko
and his medical colleagues who practiced the Buteyko breathing method, and their numerous
patients used variety of tools, methods and techniques 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 yourself, 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 a 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 pages: Breathing norms and medical facts:
-
Breathing
norms: Parameters, graph, and description of the normal
breathing pattern
- 6 breathing myths: Myths and superstitions about breathing
and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
- Hyperventilation: Definitions of
hyperventilation: their advantages and weak points
- Hyperventilation syndrome:
Western scientific evidence about prevalence of chronic hyperventilation in patients with chronic conditions
(37 medical studies)
- Normal minute ventilation: Small and
slow
breathing at rest is enjoyed by healthy subjects (14 studies)
- Hyperventilation prevalence: Present in
over 90% of
normal people (24 medical studies)
- HV and hypoxia:
How and why deep breathing reduces oxygenation of cells and tissues of
all vital organs
- Body-oxygen test (CP test)
: How to measure your own breathing and body oxygenation (two in one) using a simple DIY test
- Body oxygen in healthy:
Results for the body-oxygen test for healthy people (27 medical
studies)
- Body oxygen in sick
: Results for the body-oxygen test for sick people (14 medical studies)
- Buteyko
Table of Health Zones: Clinical description and ranges for breathing zones:
from the critically ill (severely sick) up to super healthy people
with maximum possible body oxygenation
- Morning hyperventilation: Why people feel
worse and critically ill people are most
likely to die during early morning hours
References: pages about CO2 effect:
- 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: How alveolar CO2 influences
oxygen transport
- Oxygen transport: O2 transport is controlled by
vasoconstriction-vasodilation and the Bohr effects, both of which rely on CO2
- Free radical generation:
Reactive oxygen species are produced within cells due to anaerobic cell respiration caused by cell hypoxia
- Inflammatory response: Chronic inflammation
in fueled by the hypoxia-inducible factor 1, while normal breathing reduces
and eliminates inflammation
- Nerve stabilization: People remain calm due to calmative or
sedative effects of carbon dioxide in neurons or nerve cells
- Muscle relaxation: Relaxation of muscle cells
is normal at high CO2, while hypocapnia causes muscular tension, poor posture
and, sometimes, aggression and violence
- Bronchodilation: Dilation of
airways (bronchi and bronchioles) is caused by carbon dioxide, and their constriction
by hypocapnia (low CO2)
- Blood
pH: Regulation of blood pH due to breathing and regulation of other bodily fluids
- CO2: lung damage: Elevated carbon
dioxide prevents lung injury and promotes healing of lung tissues
- CO2: Topical carbon dioxide can heal skin and tissues
- Synthesis of glutamine
in the brain, CO2 fixation, and other chemical reactions
- Deep breathing myth:
Ignorant and naive people promote the idea that deep breathing and breathing
more air at rest is beneficial for health
- Breathing control: How is our
breathing regulated? Why hypocapnia makes breathing uneven, irregular and erratic.
Your social engagement and comments are appreciated. Thanks.
Back to: Learning the Buteyko method by modules
| Disclaimer | Copyright 2013 Artour Rakhimov | Contact details | About Artour Rakhimov (Google profile) |