Inclined Bed Therapy - Sleeping With The Head End Of The Bed Elevated

yerrag

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over many years of observing my Wife, I cannot recall her in REM sleep since IBT but can remember her in this state often. I trained myself to respond to her frequent nighttime paralysis attacks, sometimes she would have multiple, which appear to have gone now also. She would wake me up with a stifled murmur as she panicked to get out of it. Then I would have trouble getting back to sleep, so would monitor her until I fell asleep.

"
The NHS says the phenomenon happens when "parts of rapid eye movement (REM) occur while you're awake".

What the NHS says
On the NHS website it says: "REM is a stage of sleep when the brain is very active and dreams often occur and during this stage the body is unable to move, apart from the eyes and muscles used in breathing, possibly to stop you acting out your dreams and hurting yourself."
The terrifying condition which leaves people 'pinned to their bed'

It's pretty odd, but last night I had my first REM sleep since I began IBT. I also got to sleep past 7 hours, something I was having difficulty with before with IBT. Even as I continue to wake up to pee, I felt even more well-rested. This is just a day after I reported that I had been having sleep with no REM. Someone must be playing tricks on me.

My sleep app tells me I had two 20min sessions of REM sleep, at 3 and 5 am. Also logged 51% deep sleep, which meant that light sleep did not dominate.

It may just be that I ate 6 pcs. of Korean chicken feet with plenty rice (it was spicy). I also skipped my usual accompaniment of cooked leaf salad. But I also skipped my nightly supplement of niacinamide, aspirin, b1, b1, by, NAC, collagen hydrolysate, VCO, selenium, and just had a half (instead of 1) glass of milk of low fat milk with a tap of sugar.

But I had skipped my supps without this effect before. There was little protein in those chicken feet, but I had plenty of gelatin from the skin as well as the tendons and ligaments.

I'll have to see if I can repeat this tonight. It was my first time to eat a chicken feet dish I made myself. The Korean style is less involved as the Chinese style. That's why I got to make it.
 
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Daniel11

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If there is not REM sleep then some very new mechanism takes over when sleeping inclined, most Neuroscience and Sleep Research is showing that it is durning REM sleep most our memory consolidation takes place, that our body will produce chemicals that cause paralysis, so we can reprocess our recent daily events without the waking state physical emotional reaction, this is so important for mental health thats why insomnia and other sleep disorders cause so much stress.

Many studies show memory consolidation is impaired in children and adults with sleep disorders because unbalance sleep throws off the amount and quality of REM sleep time.

So i wonder whats happening while we are sleeping inclined and still waking up feeling good and even better then before yet less REM sleep, its hard to imagine how we could live well without REM sleep, maybe the patterns are finer less noticeable when we are sleeping on a incline or some other shift in our physiology?

“The functional role of REM sleep in normal biology remains an open question as well as one of the more intriguing mysteries in science. Indeed, Science magazine identified how and why we dream during REM sleep as one of the most important and conspicuous knowledge gaps in science. While the biological and neuropsychiatric function of dreams and dream mentation remains unclear, considerable insights into the biological and physiological functions of REM sleep have nevertheless been gleaned.”

The Biology of REM Sleep
 
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Another important consideration is high humidity. According to this theory-breathing in moisture will affect our ability to concentrate our blood, csf and lymph through evaporation, leading to lethargy and more.

In an experiment conducted by a lady with a dropped foot, due to multiple sclerosis, she found that using a dehumidifier at night with her inclined bed, she woke without the dropped foot problem. So tested it several times with and without the dehumidifier running. Each time she turned it off at night, her dropped foot problem reemerged the next morning.
 

biffbelvin

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So I've been doing inclined bed therapy for about a month now (4 inches only) and I've noticed the following changes:
  • I can fall asleep on my back for the first time in years (this is really helping my neck/shoulders and face)
  • I wake up warmer and more awake
  • Don't feel as breathless when I wake
  • My legs are less stiff
Most of this points to better respiration/circulation when sleeping, which is ace.

Another important consideration is high humidity. According to this theory-breathing in moisture will affect our ability to concentrate our blood, csf and lymph through evaporation, leading to lethargy and more.

In an experiment conducted by a lady with a dropped foot, due to multiple sclerosis, she found that using a dehumidifier at night with her inclined bed, she woke without the dropped foot problem. So tested it several times with and without the dehumidifier running. Each time she turned it off at night, her dropped foot problem reemerged the next morning.

I have clothes drying in my bedroom twice a week due to me being lazy. I can't speak for any broader effects, but i do find it more difficult to sleep when the room is noticeably more humid (and/or hot). I'll move my drying racks to the kitchen next time.
 
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So I've been doing inclined bed therapy for about a month now (4 inches only) and I've noticed the following changes:
  • I can fall asleep on my back for the first time in years (this is really helping my neck/shoulders and face)
  • I wake up warmer and more awake
  • Don't feel as breathless when I wake
  • My legs are less stiff
Most of this points to better respiration/circulation when sleeping, which is ace.



I have clothes drying in my bedroom twice a week due to me being lazy. I can't speak for any broader effects, but i do find it more difficult to sleep when the room is noticeably more humid (and/or hot). I'll move my drying racks to the kitchen next time.

Not a good idea to dry clothes indoors. A hot steaming bath was used to induce ms symptoms as a test for the illness. Thankfully this is no longer used. I have also read of attacks while people are taking hot showers. Another consideration is having too many house plants, which add to local humidity.
In the days before the onset of double glazed windows and doors, the metal framed single pane windows that caused water to drip down onto the sills, were behaving exactly the same as dehumidifiers. Today homes are warmer and warm air holds far more moisture. Food for thought?

In two ms studies in river valley catchments, one in the Rhone Valley France, it was found that the incidence of ms was 46% above the National average. The same was found by Leslie Munro in a statistical analysis of sudden infant deaths in river valley areas and low lying coastal regions.
 
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biffbelvin

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Thank's for the heads up. I thought it was worth avoiding, just didn't have enough impetus to actually do so. I also have an en-suite next to my bedroom, I think i'll make the effort to ensure the extractor fan is on for an adequate period if it's still 'clammy' in the evening (not a good idea to leave them on constantly as the motor can burn out or possibly start a fire).

In the days before the onset of double glazed windows and doors, the metal framed single pane windows that caused water to drip down onto the sills, were behaving exactly the same as dehumidifiers. Today homes are warmer and warm air holds far more moisture. Food for thought?

It's ironic really that we made buildings so air-tight that we have to allow for trickle vents and other 'controllable' passive ventilation when designing them. My building has a communal thermostat set at 24 degrees (celcius) but i keep my flat around 19-20.

Edit: this discussion has reminded me of the profound improvement in my overall wellbeing in more arid climates. I really need to move from the UK!
 

tankasnowgod

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Not a good idea to dry clothes indoors. A hot steaming bath was used to induce ms symptoms as a test for the illness. Thankfully this is no longer used. I have also read of attacks while people are taking hot showers. Another consideration is having too many house plants, which add to local humidity.
In the days before the onset of double glazed windows and doors, the metal framed single pane windows that caused water to drip down onto the sills, were behaving exactly the same as dehumidifiers. Today homes are warmer and warm air holds far more moisture. Food for thought?

In two ms studies in river valley catchments, one in the Rhone Valley France, it was found that the incidence of ms was 46% above the National average. The same was found by Leslie Munro in a statistical analysis of sudden infant deaths in river valley areas and low lying coastal regions.

I just ordered a dehumidifier. I live right by the ocean, and I can see some other reasons why humidity in my bedroom might be higher than it should be.

I grew up in Arizona, which is largely a dry heat, and that state has long been a favorite of the elderly, both to make their permanent home, and to come during the winter months. Growing up, I remember we had Swamp Coolers, which cooled off the air by adding moisture. I remember those (and the monsoon season which brought lots of rain) caused my bedroom door to swell to the point where it would either stick, or legitimately would not fully close. Never thought that this could be doing some of the same things to my own bodily tissues, especially since I didn't think of breathing as a way to regulate water or body fluids.

I wonder if a lot of people, even in dry climates, could benefit from a dehumidifier, at least in certain rooms. There is a trend in building houses to have no doors or walls between showers and master bedrooms. Thinking long term this could be very bad for sleeping in such a room.

I am also experimenting with upping salt intake during the day and right before bed. This could be one way to offset higher humidity, since circulation is all about density changes. And probably would work synergisticly as well.

Andrew, if you have more thoughts on edema, please share them. I don't think most people or medical professionals have even considered that one of the best ways to relieve fluid swollen tissues is to increase the density of arterial blood.
 

moss

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If bottom of bed is raised 2" then your bed is only raised 4" Raise the centre up until the two halves of the bed meet without a gap. This will give you the height to support the middle of the bed. Nothing wrong with raising bed a little at a time.

Thanks Andrew.
I have now raised my bed the full incline this week.
Sleeping well and something is going on with my eyes, for the better. They have been always been on the puffy side (histamine and allergies have been ruled out) and puffiness appears to be reducing. I am reluctant to say so too early and yet it is noticeable. I am able to open my eyes wider and vision appears clearer. Is this something you get feedback on?
 
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I found that people living in East Anglia have the prize for longevity. They also have the lowest humidity and rainfall. People go to live in Southern Spain and kiss goodbye to aches and pains.
Increasing the density of arterial blood is the key to driving our circulation, providing of course we take gravity into account and correct our posture as best we can.
Interestingly, thousands of years ago it was known that placing a pinch of salt under the tongue can prolong the life of a dying person. It is even written in the Jewish code of medical ethics. Today heart medication is administered in exactly the same way. Why We Take Medicines Under Our Tongue | HuffPost

Which raises the question, would a pinch of salt do the same as these drugs?

Our lungs are the equivalent of placing salt under the tongue, while inclined in bed or standing upright, or better still walking, Each breath we take with those amazing bellows, expels water to the surrounding air, Providing the air has fairly low humidity, our bellows effectively concentrate the salts, iron and carbon in our bloodstream, which is the equivalent of placing a pinch of salt at the top of the arterial tree. The blood then flows through the heart and flows predominantly downwards towards the kidneys, where salts are filtered out and excreted in the urine. An excellent design for perpetual circulation.

However, some arterial blood flows upwards and around our head. This is due to the narrowing of the arteries as they descend through our body. The heart cannot push all the blood down the main artery, so the excess is diverted upwards. The head then cools the blood, which changes it's density further. Michel Cabanac University Laval Canada showed how heat loss through exercise reverses the direction of blood flow, from the brain to the skin, affording it to flow back against the pressure from the heart, from the skin to the brain. There are no valves or any mechanism for this to happen, so it is clearly a case of simple fluid mechanics. I put it to Cabanac that changes in blood density, through evaporative heat loss, sufficed to divert the blood flow as it flowed over Y junctions. Adding gravity dictates that dense blood will flow through the path of least resistance. Cabanac liked this explanation.

"
28/08/2008 07:45:55 »

Evaporation is what cools the body. We don't need to sweat in order to evaporate water to cool the skin surface. Sweating is when the excretion of water is faster than the evaporation rate.

Humidity is a very important factor here as high humidity prohibits our ability to evaporate water so more salts spill out onto the surface of the skin along with copious amounts of water, even without exercise.

It’s what happens in the skin and vessels once we have evaporated water that I find fascinating. Evaporation from the skin (not sweating) alters the density of the salts and sugars in the body fluids making them heavier so gravity can pull them back from the skins surface and back into the veins nerve and lymph circulation systems where they stimulate an increased flow as gravity drags on these dissolved minerals and protein colloids in the fluids, this in turn causes a dragging effect on the whole circuit.

I have mentioned the important work of Michel Cabanac on numerous occasions and cannot stress enough how his discovery of altered blood flow in the human scalp and brain through heat and evaporation generated by intensive exercise shows this simple yet hitherto ignored flow and return density driven circulation.

Cabanac places a Doppler probe between the eye and the nose showing normal blood flow from the brain out to the skin. After intensive exercise, the Doppler probe is placed in the exact same spot and now shows blood flow from the skin back to the brain, exactly the opposite flow to the previous recording.

What Cabanac has shown in this exciting experiment is that the flow of blood is flowing back against the pressure driven flow from the heart. There are no valves and no mechanism for this to be explained other than density changes in the bodily fluids.

Thank you for this question and long may you continue to work out on life’s everlasting treadmill.

Andrew K Fletcher"


https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.01380.2005

As blood flows over the scalp, nasal cavity and mouth, the cooling effect and concentration of salts through evaporation and heat loss assists the blood in the venous return to flow back down, but also adds tension to the blood and lowers the venous blood pressure. The same effects take place throughout our circulatory systems.

Oedema is caused because the pressure in the veins is higher than the pressure from the surrounding tissue, muscles etc. Having the bed inclined helps to lower this pressure, causing bulging veins to be pulled back into normal appearance over time. Lowering the pressure in the veins is essential to reversing oedema and this effect can be shown in plastic tube experiments.
And indeed in human photographic evidence of varicose veins shrinking due to IBT effect.

Again, this happens because we are loading the arteries with dense blood from the airways and offloading the arteries salts at the kidneys. This will cause the arterial blood pressure to rise slightly and this is offset by the lowering of venous pressure.
 
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Thanks Andrew.
I have now raised my bed the full incline this week.
Sleeping well and something is going on with my eyes, for the better. They have been always been on the puffy side (histamine and allergies have been ruled out) and puffiness appears to be reducing. I am reluctant to say so too early and yet it is noticeable. I am able to open my eyes wider and vision appears clearer. Is this something you get feedback on?
All the time :)
 
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Study Design: Retrospective case series.

Objective: To determine whether bed rest is a risk factor for specific medical complications.

Summary of Background Data: Flat bed rest after incidental durotomy is commonly used to reduce the risk of CSF leakage and associated complications.

Methods: Retrospective case series of consecutive patients after lumbar laminectomy were identified. Medical records were reviewed for duration of bed rest and complications (pulmonary, wound, neurological, gastrointestinal, and urinary) in the chart notes, repair methods, subfascial drain placement, consultant notes, imaging reports, and discharge summaries. Patients were compared with duration of bed rest >24 hours versus duration of bed rest ≤24 hours. The incidence of complications was compared between groups using the Fisher exact test.

Results: There were a total of 42 patients with incidental durotomy. There were 18 patients in the bed rest ≤24 hours group and 24 patients in the bed rest >24 hours group. Comparing the bed rest ≤24 hours to bed rest >24 hours patients, there was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of postdurotomy-related neurological complications, wound complications, and need for revision surgery. There was a statistically significant decrease in the incidence of total medical complications in the ≤24-hour group (0% vs. 50%, P=0.0003).

Conclusion: There was an increased incidence of medical complications in the bed rest group >24 hours. Flat bed rest after modern dural repair method may not be a necessity in all cases and may be associated with a higher incidence of medical complications.


Complications of Flat Bed Rest After Incidental Durotomy : Clinical Spine Surgery
 

Mauritio

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So facing which direction am I supposed to sleep now ? Most articles online stress sleep facing north esp. in chinese medicine. Did you just habitually sleep in ESEswitch to WNW and discovered it worked for you or is there any specific reason for that?
Our bedroom only facilitates two directions, switching to have our head facing as near to North as we could, appears to improve our sleep. Jude now sleeps more soundly, whereas she would be awake for up to two hours pointing towards South. The idea to change the polarity of the bed came from a noisy baby ward, where the new matron swapped the beds around and all went quiet, which I found fascinating. It's certainly worth experimenting with.
 

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Cirion

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I have been sleeping inclined for a couple weeks now with no real noticeable benefit - but no drawbacks either, so I'll continue to do it, can't hurt. I may try out this whole facing north thing, see if that does any thing for me.
 

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