Sleeping on your side instead of your stomach or back may help prevent Parkinson’s disease, as it enables the brain to remove waste products more easily.
The World Parkinson Coalition recently posted on Facebook a link to this article in Tech Times, which explains why. (To read the original research abstract in The Journal of Neuroscience, click here.)
Quote:
In a study conducted by Stony Brook University in New York, researchers found that sleeping in the lateral position may help the brain in removing waste products more effectively than sleeping on one’s back or stomach. It also suggests fewer chances of developing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.
Of course, the first question that comes to my mind is: What waste products? The hour-long episode of “Naked and Afraid” that I watched on TV last night? Or the martini I had with it?
I usually sleep on my left side. My right hand, which is affected by Parkinson’s, likes to clench up and grip something, such as a T-shirt I’ve rolled up in a ball. When I sleep on my left side, my right hand clenches the T-shirt and rests palm-side down against the mattress, and everyone is happy.
If I sleep on my right side, my right hand strains up off the mattress and hovers in the air like a helicopter that can’t land, and everyone is miserable.
And if I sleep on my stomach, I often drool on the mattress, waking up with my face in a swamp.
What about you? How do you sleep?
I sleep on my side; curled up in a ball. I take up very little room in the bed.
One of my symptoms is persistent restless leg, so sleep n genereal is an active time and I keep changing positions
Left side with right arm resting on a pillow. So far, I wake up in exactly the same spot! 🙂