Have you ever tried multiple positions without falling asleep, and accidentally raised your hands above your head, only to find that the comfort quickly overflowed your body...... Until awakened by the sensation of paralysis in the arm.
If the position makes you feel comfortable, watch out for a problem with your "breathing pattern".
Life Times (search for "LT0385" on WeChat) interviews experts to reveal the relationship between sleeping position and breathing, and tell you how to adjust to a healthy state.
Experts interviewed
Xu Jiangpeng, standing member of the Sports Rehabilitation Professional Committee of Zhengzhou Rehabilitation Medical Association
Wang Fan, deputy chief TCM physician of the First Department of Acupuncture and Tuina of Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, and Cao Liang, attending TCM physician
Why do some people sleep with their hands raised?
Unconsciously raising your hands backwards during sleep is due to excessive tension in the soft tissues of the neck and shoulders, which makes it difficult to fall asleep, which can be relieved by raising your hands high. Stiffness and tension in the shoulders and necks are likely to be caused by breathing patterns.
Breathing is closely linked to the muscles, exhaling relaxes the body, and inhaling promotes muscle activity. Healthy breathing patterns are achieved by the diaphragm (the separation between the chest and abdominal cavity) sinking and lifting.
In general, diaphragm-dominated abdominal breathing is deeper and slower, which greatly helps to activate the parasympathetic nerves (visceral motor nerves in the nervous system) and relaxes muscles throughout the body.
However, due to constant pressure and abnormal joint alignment caused by poor posture, the diaphragm may not be able to work "competently". Respiratory compensation occurs from diaphragm dominance to shoulder, neck, and chest dominance.
Chest breathing, which relies solely on the upward expansion of the ribs and inhales, is accompanied by shrugging the shoulders, causing tension in the shoulders, neck, and chest muscles.
The tendency to raise the hand backwards during sleep is associated with compensatory breathing in the shoulders and neck.
Because the shoulder and neck muscles other than the diaphragm are frequently activated to participate in breathing, these muscles will be extremely active, and until the night rest, the shoulder and neck will continue to "work" because of the continuous breathing.
At this time, it is necessary to raise the arm to collect more blood and nutrients to continue to maintain the compensatory work of the shoulder and neck muscles, so you will unconsciously raise your hand when sleeping.
"Sleeping Position with Raised Hand" deals 4 damage
Sleeping with your hands up is comfortable, but staying in this sleeping position for a long time may have some negative health effects.
Affects blood circulation in the upper limbs
Long-term poor posture will cause poor blood circulation and numbness in the upper limbs, and for a long time, it will cause ischemia and hypoxia of peripheral nerves, causing peripheral neuritis and other diseases.
Induces frozen shoulder
When the hand is raised, the shoulder is exposed and cold, and the load on the muscles around the shoulder joint is large, which will compress the subacromial space, which is easy to induce frozen shoulder and acromial impingement syndrome.
Causes reflux esophagitis
When the arms are raised, the diaphragm shifts due to muscle stretching, which increases abdominal pressure. It is more pronounced in people who are overfed before bedtime, in the elderly, and in the third trimester of pregnancy, and in the long run, reflux esophagitis may develop.
Affects cardiorespiratory health
The diaphragm and chest cannot contract naturally, and breathing will also be affected, which can cause chest tightness and make people feel tired of sleeping. If you often feel chest tightness and shortness of breath, you need to raise your hands and open your chest cavity to relieve it, and you need to be alert to cardiopulmonary problems.
This improves your sleeping position
If you often sleep with your hands raised above your head, you can check and adjust your breathing patterns to improve your sleeping posture by using the following methods.
Self-check your breathing in the mirror
Sit down in front of the mirror, inhale and exhale through your nose, and observe whether there is any significant undulation of the shoulders and neck during breathing.
Breathing conditioning exercises
You can choose to do it lying on a yoga mat or in bed. Take the supine position and use pillows to properly elevate your legs to make your waist more comfortable and your body more relaxed.
Place the palms of both hands at the navel position, inhale and exhale, and introduce more air into the lower part of the chest cavity and abdominal cavity when inhaling, and you can feel the dilated abdominal cavity pushing your hands upward; Then exhale and relax, at which point the abdomen falls back. Each group exercises 5~8 times, each practice more than 3 groups.
Sleeping position is recommended
Different sleeping positions have their own advantages and disadvantages, and you can choose a sleeping position that suits you according to your own situation.
Lying on your back can help relieve low back pain and reduce pressure on your organs and chest. The disadvantage is that the base of the tongue will press down on the pharynx due to gravity, which may cause snoring and even sleep apnea.
Lying on the right side helps to stabilize the heartbeat and protect the brain, and is the most recommended sleeping position.
Lying on the left side can reduce gastrointestinal pressure and is suitable for women in the second or third trimester of pregnancy. However, sleeping on your side for a long time is easy to cause facial asymmetry.
Prone lying can compress the chest, increase joint pressure, affect breathing, etc., and is not recommended to take a sleeping position.
There are also "protective sleeping positions" for people with different medical conditions, which can help relieve uncomfortable symptoms and promote physical recovery.
Patients with coronary heart disease are recommended to choose the right side of the decubitus position, the head side is 10~15 degrees higher than the foot side, which can reduce the amount of blood flowing from the inferior vena cava and is conducive to cardiac rest.
Patients with cerebral thrombosis are recommended to lie on their backs, and the pillow should be preferably 5 cm high, not too high or too low, so as to ensure that the carotid artery is not compressed and the blood supply to the brain is sufficient.
Patients with heart failure are recommended to lie down and sit half-sitting, which can not only improve lung blood circulation, reduce pulmonary congestion, but also increase oxygen inhalation, which is conducive to alleviating symptoms such as palpitations, chest tightness, and asthma.
People with low back pain are recommended to lie on their side, and when sleeping on their side, put a U-shaped full-body pillow between their knees to support their body weight and help their arms to be more comfortable.
People with varicose veins should keep their feet elevated above the level of the heart in a horizontal position to help promote blood return to the heart and avoid congestion of the veins in the lower extremities.
Source: Life Times