Sleeping on your side may help to remove waste products in the brain | Hacker News Reader

Sleeping on your side may help to remove waste products in the brain

sciencealert.com

31 pointsdnt404-18 comments

> While the glymphatic pathways testing has so far only been conducted on rodents

Oh come on. Medical studies I can understand animal testing having some relevance, but this study on rodents and applying the results to humans without a massive disclaimer? That's a step too far.

Back in X year, one of the most widely cited studies [...]

I tried to find the "X year", a placeholder that was probably forgotten by the OP, and the source of the survey page contains the following snippet

  <meta name="DC.date.modified" content="2014-08-12T08:38:03+00:00"/>
  <meta name="DC.date.created" content="2014-08-11T14:42:58+00:00"/>

Sleeping on your side also helps prevent snoring! Win-win!

As well as sleep paralysis [1] ! For me at least. It's also a smart way to pass out if you've had too much to drink. I wonder if it's got any unwanted long term effects on one's back though..

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

If you are overweight and older you risk getting bursitis in your hips if you sleep on your side. At 61 this is now a problem for me that has me losing weight (a low carb ketogenic diet) and sleeping in a recliner for half the night. I do get a restful sleep but I've always had the ability to go back to sleep quickly. So moving from the chair to the bed and back does not seem to bother me.

I wonder does that explain why i feel like shit whenever i fall asleep and wake up on my back instead of sideways.

This is typically because of sleep apnea or snoring. I had a whole family of thin folks with sleep apnea that this was their initial complaints.

I snore and have suspected occasionally i have apnea also, due to other signs. So you're probably right.

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