This Sleeping Position Stops Inflammation & Fix Thyroid

Introduction to the drain-and-heal sleep position 0:00

If you are struggling with high amount of inflammation in your body or you're waking up feeling tired in the morning or have chronic medical issues, specifically thyroid issues. Your body might be trying to heal itself but your sleeping position is working against your own body. Most people do not realize this. But the way you sleep affects how you drain toxins in the night, how are you able to reduce inflammation as well as how can you rebalance your thyroid hormones during the nighttime. So in today's video, I am going to reveal this best sleeping position that is going help your body in draining inflammation, naturally healing your Thyroid gland.

I call this sleeping position, drain and heal position. Stay till the end because I am going to share with you the worst sleeping positions, specifically if you have high amount of inflammation and thyroid issues in your body. Hi, I'm Dr Anshul Gupta, a former Cleveland Clinic functional medicine physician from US.

How sleep supports detox and inflammation reduction 0:58

I help people improve their chronic diseases by making personalized functional medicines plans. We all spend one third of our life asleep. And during that time, our body is just not resting. It is actually working internally in removing the toxin burden, rebalancing the hormones and reducing inflammation in your body as well as starting the repair process during the night time. Your brain has an inbuilt detox system which is called the glymphatic system. This system is responsible for removing toxins and also inflammatory chemical buildup which happens during the day.

And for this glymphatic system of your brain to work properly, it relies heavily on gravity and proper circulation in your body. And this is where the sleeping position is so important. Because if you are sleeping in the wrong position, it restricts the lymphatic flow in your brain, which actually can increase inflammation in our body. So yes, how you sleep matters a lot. Not only the quality of the sleep, but we are actually talking about reducing inflammation, draining your toxins in specific sleeping positions.

This is where this special drain and heel sleeping position is very important.

Setting up pillows and left-side alignment 2:12

So let me share with you first what this position and what is the proper way of using this. Basically, this drain & heel position means that you sleep on the left side with your head, neck and spine are aligned together as well as having a pillow in between your knees. so that your hip is also aligned. Yes, it does sound confusing but let me break it down step by step for you to easily understand it. Let me start with step 1. The step one is actually setting up your pillows properly. First of all, you need to choose a pillow for your head which keeps your neck aligned with your spine.

This pillow cannot be too high as well as cannot completely flat. because you need to align your neck with your spine properly. And then you will need a second pillow which you are going to keep between your knees so that your hips are aligned properly as well as there is less strain on your lower back. The step 2 is the sleeping method. In this, you'll need sleep on the left side position. Your knees should be slightly bent and use the pillow in between your knees. When you are sleeping on the left side, try not to curl too much your body into the fetal position because that again restricts the lymphatic flow.

Instead try to extend your arms, keep your upper body straight in the Left side position and the legs slightly bend around the knee area.

How to adapt to left-side sleeping and choose a mattress 3:39

If you're not used to sleeping in left hand side then you need to get used this position. So for that, you can start with 30 minutes of your initial sleeping position on this left hand side and then after that you just move naturally in whatever position feels right for your body and gradually it will take 3 to 4 weeks for you body to be adjusted into the left-hand position and be comfortable in it. Now for this sleeping position to be successful, mattress also matters a lot. Because if you are using a very hard mattress and you're sleeping on the left hand side, that can create pressure points and then you will feel achy in the morning.

And if the mattress is too soft, then your hips and shoulders are going to sink into the matress and that will misalign your body. So for that, a medium firm mattress which doesn't create too much pressure point as well as is not too Now, the goal is not to sleep for the whole night in one single position. That is literally impossible for any person. But the Goal is to educate you about this particular position and start training your body so at least for couple of hours during the night time you can

Why left-side sleeping improves lymphatic drainage 4:46

spend in this position Now, let me share with you why this position actually works. First of all, it actually improves your lymphatic drainage. Your major lymphotic drainage happens through the left thoracic duct. When you are sleeping on the lefthand side, this left Thoracics duct is actually much more opened and works better. So that the lymph flow throughout your body works really good. What is the importance of the Lymphatic channel? The lymphactic channel actually helps in removing toxins throughout the night from your Body.

Plus, it also helps in removing the inflammatory chemical mediators which build up in our body during the nae time. Plus when you sleep on the left hand side, your liver detoxes better, Your stomach works better so that your gut is much more balanced as well as your Liver is able to remove more toxins in the night time Plus, left-sided sleeping supports your vagus nerve. Your vagous nerve is your calming nerve in your body. It activates your parasympathetic mode. By sleeping on the left hand side and improving your Vagus nerve functioning, you are able to reduce your cortisol as well as rebalancing all the hormones in the body So in short, this sleeping position, the drain and heel position helps in eliminating toxins, help in reducing inflammation as well as rebalancing your hormones all through the night.

Let me share with you what is the worst position specifically for inflammation and thyroid health.

Worst sleeping position for inflammation and thyroid health 6:12

Now the worst sleeping position is actually sleeping on your stomach. The reason being when you are sleeping in the stomach, it compresses your lymphatic channels as well as compress your thyroid gland aswell as also pushes your stomach and creates more pressure on it. So specifically if you're waking up tired in morning or you have puffy face of lot of bloating all around your body, then you need to check if your sleeping majority of the time because that might be the culprit over here. And that's where this left-sided sleeping position can really be helpful for you because that will help you in reducing your bloating, reducing puffiness as well as also will also help to feel energized in the morning.

Obviously, sleep is not all about the sleep position. The sleep quality and the duration matters a lot. So make sure you're sleeping at least 7-8 hours during the night. To improve your sleep quality, magnesium is a great supplement that you can add that will definitely improve deep sleep during the night.

Sleep quality tips and closing advice 7:05

We have created a special magnesium glycanate and magnesium complete supplement which has helped a lot of my patients improving their quality of sleep. I will highly recommend adding that magnesium supplement at bedtime. The link will be in the description if you want to buy it. Along with that, make sure you are switching off all your gadgets at least one hour before your sleeping time because that blue light from those screens definitely affects your melatonin levels and will affect the quality of your sleep.

So today I shared with you this special drain and heal sleeping position that can help you in draining toxins, reducing bloating, reduce inflammation as well as rebalancing your thyroid and other hormones. Obviously, combine this sleeping with an anti-inflammatory diet and all the other things which I have shared in other videos for reducing inflammation. You will see within 3-4 weeks that you are waking up feeling more energized and less inflammation in your body. So I hope you like this video.

If you do, please like and subscribe to my channel as well as share this information with others who can benefit from it. Until next time, take care, bye bye.