Elevated Sleeping

Equanimo

What is Elevated Sleeping?
Types of Elevated Sleeping Solutions
Who sleep on an incline?
Benefits & How it Works
Drawbacks

What is Elevated Sleeping?

Inclined sleeping or elevated sleeping is a sleeping position in which one has his/her upper body raised higher than the normal, flat lying position, essentially the head is held higher than the heart.
‍
This can be done by either tilting the whole bed frame, or simply by creating an incline slope on the head side of the mattress in order to elevate the entire upper body (not just the head).

Types of Elevated Sleeping Solutions

Bed Leg Extension

Strong and stable objects, such as wood blocks, bricks, and rubber bases.

Full-Mattress Tilt System

Various kinds: wood or steel wedge structure, PU foam wedge mattress, and inflatable wedge mattress

Upper-body Incline System on Mattress

- A wedge-shaped pillow or cushion
- Different sizes and angles
- Different filling materials: cotton, polyester fiber, gel, air, water, and PU foam.

Upper-body Incline System under Mattress

A wedge-shaped cushion or structure: PU foam wedge, inflatable wedge, and wood or steel wedge structure

Adjustable bed base: manual and electric

Who sleep on an incline?

People who have immediate night-time symptoms that prevent them from sleeping in flat position

Acid reflux, indigestion, congested nose, night-time cough, snoring, and sleep apnea.

Those with compelling medical situations that require elevated sleeping to manage the symptoms, slow down progression, or avoid complications.

Pulmonary conditions (lung conditions), ear infection, glaucoma, and postoperative care

Many with less obvious, yet on-going symptoms that are often caused and/or worsened by flat lying

Unmanaged symptoms could possibly develop into more complicated health problems later.

Ocular Hypertension (high eye pressure)
Regular morning discomforts: puffy face, swelling eyes, headache, sinus congestion, and tenderness around head, face, and nose areas.

Those who have no known health conditions but have opted to sleep on an elevation to gain possible benefits of better circulation and drainage during sleep as self-care and preventive measures.

Elevated Sleeping: Benefits & How it Works

Gravity - The Hero: Individuals may experience benefits when sleep on an incline at different angles, yet the various merits are achieved with help from the very same key factor - gravity.

Benefits of Inclined Sleeping Commonly Accepted by Health Experts

Gravity pulls down stomach content, providing immediate relief in the upper digestive tract

When an upper body is elevated, the gravity pulls the stomach content like food and acid to a lower position, helping manage symptoms that usually get worse when lying flat.

Acid Reflux
-- Food and acid cannot travel up into the esophagus; or even if it does, the episode lasts much shorter, and the acid damage is minimized.
Food Indigestion
-- Food in the stomach stays lower and does not push against the upper stomach and sphincter - the muscles that serve as a valve between stomach and esophagus - hence reduction of stomach pressure and nausea sensation.
Night-time cough from acid reflux
-- No reflux = No cough trigger

Elevated sleeping position keeps the upper airway open and enables easier breathing - an effective way to manage some problems related to upper respiratory tract

When one lies with the upper body propped up, the gravity force helps keep the upper airway open wider than when one is in flat position, and at the same time, prevents weak throat muscles from collapsing to block the airway. The incline position, therefore, promotes better air-flow and easier breathing, which is effective in relieving the following symptoms:

Congested Nose (due to a cold, flu, allergic reactions, or inflammation)
-- The already swollen airway is kept opens wider
Snoring (due to congested nose)
-- Better breathing minimizes the risks of snoring.
Snoring and Mild Sleep Apnea (due to collapsed weak throat muscles)
-- No obstructed airway = No apnea or snoring

Inclined position promotes better circulation and drainage of the body’s fluids and prevents fluid retention, which causes discomforts, pains, swelling, infection, nerve damage, and possibly several other complicated health problems.

An inclined position allows gravity to assist with the circulation and drainage of the body’s fluids (blood, lymph, water, mucus, etc.), which would have otherwise pooled in particular parts of the body such as head, face, eyes, nose and sinuses, throat, and lungs when one lies flat during night hours.

When the fluid buildup is managed, the discomforts from tissue congested with fluid is relieved, the swelling is minimized, further complications such as infection of the area or further nerve or tissue damage can be avoided, hence the body can heal faster.

Gravity-assisted drainage achieved simply by an elevated sleeping can help manage, or in some cases prevent, various signs and symptoms:

Blocked nose and/ or sinuses from a cold or allergic reactions
-- Elevated sleeping helps drain mucus.
Mild Sinusitis
-- The gravity drains mucus from sinus passages, preventing further infection and swelling.
Night-time cough due to post-nasal drips
‍-- Keeping head and body elevated drains post-nasal drips instead of allowing it to collect in the back of the throat and nose as what happens when one lies flat.
Clogged ear and fluid in middle ear
‍-- The gravity helps drain trapped fluid and reduce pressure inside the ear, minimizing pain and risks of infection.
Ocular hypertension
-- High pressure in the eye occurs mainly because of fluid buildup in the eye, which is worst in flat lying position. Elevated sleeping improves fluid drainage, hence reduce eye pressure, and minimizing risks of optic nerve damage and lower the chances of developing glaucoma.
Glaucoma
-- Avoiding high eye pressure (intraocular pressure or IOP) in order to prevent further damage to the already vulnerable optic nerves has been a primary goal in delaying progression of glaucoma. IOP directly associates with our body positions, with flat lying resulting in highest pressure, while sitting upright position creates the lowest pressure. Therefore, elevated sleeping at about 20 -30 degrees should be adopted by glaucoma patients as it has been proved to help prevent an increase of eye pressure during sleep.
Headache when wake up after sleeping flat
-- An inclined position allows the gravity to drain fluid from the head, preventing pressure in head and face areas from building up while sleeping, hence reducing incidence of morning headache.
Facial Swelling
-- The gravity helps drain excess fluid from the face area.
Pulmonary Edema
-- Sleeping elevated prevents fluids buildup in the lungs caused by congestive heart disease .
Post-operative swelling and pains
(After an operations in the head, face, and chest area such as brain surgery, facelift, rhinoplasty - nose surgery, sinus surgery, and breast lift.)
-- Fluid retention on the area is minimized due to the gravity pull, resulting in limitation of swelling and pain, lower infection risks, and faster healing.
Foot, Leg and Ankle Swelling
-- When the legs are elevated higher than the heart, fluids that clog on the legs, feet, and around the ankles can be drained back to the body, reversing the swelling.

Promising Potential Benefits of Elevated Sleeping

Based on the principle of gravity assisted drainage, many other benefits of sleeping on an incline have already been noted by a number of experts and experienced by several individuals who have embraced the practice into their everyday lifestyle.

It’s just a matter of time until enough researches and studies provide conclusive confirmation and explanation about these possibilities.

Some of the promising benefits are related to the following areas:

Migraine
Prostate nocturia (Urination at night)
Alzheimer's
Parkinson's disease
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Stroke in sleep

Drawbacks

Everything has pros and cons. Sleeping elevated also has its sets of drawbacks that you may want to consider.

1. It Costs extra money!

Yes, you may need to buy some kind of solution. However, not being able to sleep erodes all aspects of our life quality, physically and emotionally. Eventually, it will cost us more time and money on medication and health services.

If one can buy a new pair of shoes, bottle of wine, or packs of cigarettes, one can probably spare some amount to invest in his or her health.

It’s a matter of priority, and doesn’t our health deserve to be on the top of the list?

2. It requires "change".

Changing habits is actually more difficult than making a one-time payment on the product. It requires willingness, time, patience, and a bit of faith.

Good News: It does not take that much time as you may have thought.

It doesn’t require too much will power for one to change from flat to elevated sleeping, especially when it is the position that allows the person to sleep better!

Our study on user experience shows that one can get used to sleeping on a mild elevation lower than 10 degrees in no time, and may need a couple of weeks to adjust to a higher slant.

After a few months together with some experimenting on how to support themselves in bed, some users can feel as comfortable sleeping on an elevation (from 15 to 30 degrees) as when they were sleeping flat.

3. It may not be for everyone.

Sleeping on an incline up to 30 degrees is generally suitable for any adults. If you have ever slept in a TV recliner chair, a reclining beach chair, or in a hospital bed, then elevated sleeping is nothing new to you.

However, we would like you to be on the safe side. If you have one of the following conditions, we strongly recommend that you consult with your doctor about any new sleeping postures you would like to adopt regardless of whether or not it is in flat or elevated level.

A history of brain trauma
Serious injury on your neck, hips, and sacrum region
Having or being at risks of heart conditions as well as problems with blood circulation back to the brain

Possible Alternative

If sleeping elevated is considered acceptable for your condition, but the bending in the midsection is not, then you can always try the full-mattress tilt instead of the upper-body incline method.