Sleeping Position Effectively Decreases the Risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s – A Study
The recent study found out that the sleeping position had a considerable effect on the neurological health of human beings. Researchers observed that the particular sleeping position that is, sleeping on your side or, the lateral position sleeping habit may cause to eliminate waste products assimilated in the brain. These waste products are known to be good reasons of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
The researchers and scientists of the international team were headed by people of Stony Brook University in the US. They created MRI scans of the image of the brain of rats and found that the glymphatic pathways or the system that helps eliminate waste chemical from the brain was purposefully helped in the duty when the rodent slept on the sides.
Researchers found the perfect technique to study the process or the activity of how the cerebrospinal fluid filtered through the brain and passed waste to the interstitial fluid of cells so as to clear it from the brain. The waste material included amyloid and tau proteins, which were known to cause injury in the functioning system of the brain when they were permitted to pile up.
Helene Benveniste, the principal investigator of the research team added strongly about the consistent role of glymphatiic transportation, which was most effective in the lateral position of sleeping when it was compared with other sleeping positions, the prone and the supine positions, which came as a statement from the head of the team. All these findings were published in The Journal of Neuroscience, which was highly appreciated by most people as the lateral position of sleeping habit being the most common position in regular sleepers.
There was another study in previous time on sleeping positions of human beings, which was performed by a team of researchers at the Sleep Assessment and Advisory services in UK. The survey reported that 69 percent of sleepers took rest in any of the three lateral sleeping positions, namely the log or the foetus and the yeamer.
Foetus sleepers contribute to 41 percent of the total sleepers who curl their legs and keep arms up. Log sleepers contribute to 15 percent only who sleep on their sides with arms straightened and keep legs like planks. Yeamer sleepers keep their arms before them.
If you compare, you would find that there are very few people who like to sleep on their back or on tummy. Nearly 8 percent of the common people use the soldier position that is lying flat on the back with unfolded arms at the side. Starfish sleepers are only 5 percent that lie on their back with arms up touching their heads. Only 7 percent of people like to sleep on their tummy, which is known as freefaller position.
The research has been conducted on the behavior of glymphatic pathways testing on rodents only, but scientists are of the opinion that the same result would also become true with humans on the lateral sleeping habits. However, they need to carry on with further studies in this respect to come to a final conclusion.
Maiken Nedergaard, co-author of the research paper noted the interest in the subject and added that the lateral sleeping position had been the most popular way of rest in human and in most animals and even for the wild types. It suggests that both human and animals have accepted the lateral sleep positions to effectively remove metabolic waste products from the brain, which are piled up when they remain awake. The study eventually supports the idea that sleep in a way helps in carrying on certain biological functions and the most significant one is to clear up the mess accumulated in the brain.
Several kinds of dementia are results o sleep disturbances including difficulties arising in going to sleep. These symptoms of sleep disturbances may contribute to memory loss as in Alzheimer’s disease making the life more difficult. However, the new study opens up a new horizon for sleep affected people and shows the importance of the sleeping position.