Sleeping with your legs elevated can reduce swelling Oedema is a term used when the body swells up due to a build-up of fluid - it usually affects extremities such as your arms, legs and feet. By elevating your legs as you sleep, you can reduce the discomfort and pain this may bring, as well as reduce the swelling.
Sleeping with your legs elevated can also: Prevent lower back pain, by taking pressure off your joints as you sleep. Help improve your circulation. Help prevent blood clots and deep vein thrombosis.
If you want to elevate your legs during the night, you may be wondering how long you should do so. The answer ultimately depends on your individual situation and medical condition. However, some experts suggest you elevate your legs for at least 30 minutes 3‐4 times per day.
Elevating your feet improves blood circulation and prevents swelling in the feet, while sleeping with your head elevated improves breathing and prevents snoring. You can also do both with an adjustable bed, creating a sleeping position where your centre of gravity is pushed onto your core.
If you're having a hard time elevating your legs above your heart, start with a coffee table or ottoman. Keep your legs in an elevated position for 15 minutes. Repeat this three to four times daily.
One of the easiest ways to manage swelling is to elevate (raise) the swollen limb. The goal is to elevate the swollen limb slightly above the level of the heart. This helps the extra fluid move back towards the heart for circulation to the rest of the body.
Possible Drawbacks of Elevating Your Legs While Sleeping
While many may find that sleeping with legs elevated is beneficial, some may experience numbness in their legs or feet. Others might experience rare side effects like muscle cramps in the calves or feet due to the elevation.
Side sleeping is considered healthy for several reasons because it keeps the spine aligned and relatively neutral. It is even more comfortable for people with lower back pain and neck pain if they support their knees with a blanket in between or a pillow. This helps provide support to the hips and pelvis.
“Elevating your legs brings a gentle stretch on the hamstrings, glutes, hips and spine. It also frees your body from any tension in the lower back area. It helps in reducing the curve of the lumbar spine and reduces tightness in the lumbar region.
How it Works. Elevating a limb, especially the legs, above the heart allows the blood to circulate back to the heart without fighting gravity. The heart still pumps blood to these extremities, but the stress on the heart is reduced. This helps to mitigate swelling and brings fresh and oxygenated blood to the limbs.
According to Vastu Shastra, it is good to sleep with your head in the east direction, while one should never sleep with the feet towards the east, that is, with the head in the west.
If you sleep on your side, a firm pillow between your knees will prevent your upper leg from pulling your spine out of alignment and reduce stress on your hips and lower back. Pull your knees up slightly toward your chest. The pillow for your head should keep your spine straight.
Improved Circulation
Most of the time, your legs are below your heart, and your body has to work against gravity to pump blood back up from your legs and feet. Elevating your legs reverses the gravitational pull, making it easier for stale blood to flow back to the heart and lungs and be replenished with fresh oxygen.
The Drawbacks of Going Pillowless
If you're in the wrong posture all night, in the morning you'll feel it. Brushing off sleep posture can leave you with pain, stiffness, and soreness. Lying on your side without a pillow between the knees could negatively affect spine health.
As a general rule, when you sleep with your arm under your pillow, it helps keep your spine in a neutral position and reduces aches and pains in your muscles and joints. This is because it helps to hold your arm in place and take some of the weight off of it which can reduce discomfort.
Side Sleepers
A knee pillow placed between the legs can reduce hip movement while also holding the spine in a straight position. Side sleeping is often recommended for certain stages of pregnancy and for people with back pain, and using a knee pillow can help these sleepers stay comfortable at night.
Elevating your injury for long periods of time can be especially risky if you have certain heart conditions or blood pressure issues. This is mainly because elevating your injury can lower your blood pressure and decrease the rate of blood flow throughout your body.
According to Willink, you have to “elevate your feet above your heart and then set your alarm for eight minutes, and afterwards he feels like “superman”. Science-wise, keeping your legs elevated can help blood flow, promoting faster sleep.
For those of us that move around a lot in our sleep, have to sleep on a slight incline, or share the bed with a heavier partner, having one leg bent up can act as an anchor to help with weight distribution and stop us from migrating around the bed.
The amount of time needed in order for the elevation to be effective will vary from injury to injury, but for a typical leg injury, you'll need to raise your legs above your heart for three to four times a day and for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. This will help you get the most out of the elevation treatment.
Body positioning — Leg, ankle, and foot edema can be improved by elevating the legs above heart level for 30 minutes three or four times per day. Elevating the legs may be sufficient to reduce or eliminate edema for people with mild venous disease, but more severe cases require other measures.