Thursday, October 28, 2010

Mysterious Left

Studies show that sleeping on your left side is best. The reason is not entirely clear. One hypothesis holds that right-side sleeping relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter, between the stomach and the esophagus. Another holds that left-side sleeping keeps the junction between stomach and esophagus above the level of gastric acid. In a study in The Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, scientists recruited a group of healthy subjects and fed them high-fat meals on different days to induce heartburn. Immediately after the meals, the subjects spent four hours lying on one side or the other as devices measured their esophageal acidity. Ultimately, the researchers found that “the total amount of reflux time was significantly greater” when the subjects lay on their right side.

4 comments:

  1. This is a very good information for singles and singles to-be.

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  2. Recently, I've suffered quite a bit from acid reflux. Matter of fact, it's 'coming up' as I'm writing this...

    Thing is, I prefer to sleep on my right side.

    Should I say thank you, Dr. Kunze, for saving me from future doctor and pharmacy bills?

    Well, just in case - thank you, doc!(I'll keep you updated on my progress.)

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  3. And now Dr. Kunze, you certainly will find a study about the question of what is more healthy, driving on the left or right? And why do we start our roundtour in museums/churches on the left side? Is there any correlation with voting? And, now very seriously, my wife often confounds left and right. Is this the reason for her alternate left-right-sleeping?

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  4. I'll be darned - no reflux today!

    Guess on which side I've spent the night?

    ReplyDelete