8 Unanticipated Perks Of Sleeping On Your Left Side

Sleep is an important component of overall wellness that maintains a harmonious flow of physical, emotional, and mental aspects. While it's true that both the amount and quality of sleep are valuable, sleep position can play a larger role in your health than you may think. Out of all the sleep positions, sleeping on your left side has many unanticipated benefits that may put your body into full gear and support your overall wellness.

While many people may shift around at night, any consistent sleep practice when it comes to sleeping on your left side can pay off in tremendous physiological benefits. From improved digestion to a healthier heart, sleeping on your left side can contribute to a more active, vibrant life!

Below, we share eight surprising benefits to sleeping on your left side, each with scientific rationale and physiological explanations.

1. Improves Digestion. 

One of the greatest benefits of sleeping on your left side is that it helps with digestion. Like the other body systems, digestion requires a certain balance between anatomy and gravity. The stomach and pancreas are both located on the left side of the body. 

When a person sleeps on their left side, gravity can help move the food from the stomach to the small intestine more easily and allow the pancreas to secrete the appropriate pancreatic enzymes.

If you’re suffering from post-meal heartburn or discomfort while sleeping, altering your sleep position may serve as one natural way to provide some gastrointestinal relief.

2. Benefits Heart Function

Another lesser known benefit of sleeping on the left side is that it may help your heart function. Because the heart is somewhat tilted to the left within the chest cavity, sleeping with your body tilted to the left may facilitate better heart pumping as it takes advantage of gravity and provides support while effectively decreasing the pressure on the aorta, the largest artery within the body that exits the heart and curves to the left. 

When in a vertical position, there is decreased pressure on the largest artery (the aorta) that the heart pumps blood through. When sleeping on your left side, you relieve this arterial pressure thereby improving the blood flow as it leaves the heart and flows to the body.

 You also enhance the flow of blood back to the heart, which may be beneficial for a woman who is pregnant or someone who has compromised blood circulation. In addition to improving blood flow to the heart, better circulation also provides more oxygen to your body, which contributes to your energy and productivity levels during your waking hours, as well as your cognitive focus.

The left-sided sleeping position also provides the body with benefits related to the lymphatic system and your body's lymphatic drainage. Lymphatic drainage is essential to your body’s detoxification process and your body's immune response. In addition to providing more flow to the heart, improving circulation, and providing optimal function to your lymphatic system decreases stress on your cardiovascular system (heart). 

3. Aids in Lymphatic Drainage 

The lymphatic system performs the essential task of filtering out excess fluid, waste products, nutrients and carbohydrates, toxins, and immune cells from the body.

The left side sleep position optimizes the thoracic duct, allowing lymph to drain efficiently draining the lymph through the spleen, the primary lymphatic tissue located on the left side of the abdomen. Removing this lymph and sending it to be detoxified aids immune system efficiency due to the enhanced transfer of white blood cells.

When the lymphatic system can’t drain fluid, there is a risk of edema (fluid retention), open apatite to disease, and poor metabolic function. Favoring the left side position with your sleep creates an active function for your body’s cleansing mechanism, improving your overall cleansing, challenges, and overall resiliency (and metabolic performance).

4. Promotes Healthy Spleen Function

The spleen is one of the most overlooked organs; however, people do recognize it’s important. As a primary organ for blood filtration and circulation that regulates important aspects of the human immune system, the spleen is defined as foregut tissue near the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. The spleen benefits greatly from a left-sided position as it improves circulation of the lymph, and blood flow to and from the spleen to help improve all systems when it comes to waste removal and combating pathogens. 

This improved circulation allows the spleen to better recycle non-functioning red blood cells, create antibodies, and proper essential to the development of the body’s immune challenge management system. The spleen functions as part of the body’s lymphatic and immune systems to help promote our balanced environment.

By sleeping on the left side consistently, you will actively have a opportunity to help blood circulation and immune system functioning in the long term.

5. Relieves Strain on the Liver

The liver is the largest of solid organs in the human body located on the right side of the abdomen. Placing your body on the left side may help with lessening the strain on the liver while you rest. When you lie on your left side, gravity works to relieve pressure from compressed organs above it and possibly allowing the liver to perform a better job of filtering out blood and metabolic waste. 

In addition, lying on your left side may improve bile flow when breaking down fats. The left side of the body promotes the efficient transfer of bile from the liver to the gallbladder and small intestine - possibly preventing bile stagnation and gallstones. 

If you suffer from fatty liver disease or another illness associated with liver damage, it may be worthwhile to incorporate this easy positional change of lying on your left side into your nightly routine. 

6. Promotes Regularity of Bowel Movements

Teaching your body to sleep on the left side of the body has been an important yet hidden benefit; the impact left-side sleeping could have on bowel regularity. 

The colon, also known as the large intestine, begins on the right side of the abdomen and is oriented downward to the left side of the abdomen. Sleeping on the left side of your body helps gravity to assist the natural movement of waste matter as it travels from your ascending colon through the transverse section and into the descending colon.

This position allows for easier and more complete elimination in the morning. Lying on your left side in essence facilitates peristalsis---the muscle contractions that move waste through the digestive tract---and decreases the risk of constipation and bloating.

Anyone with slow digestion or inconsistent bowel habits would find substantial benefit and improvement adjusting to stay on their left side while sleeping. It is a very non-invasive and gentle way to promote better digestive movement and gut health.

7. Helps Pregnant Women and the Baby

The left side sleep position is recommended to pregnant women by OB/GYN's and midwives alike. The advantages of lying on the left side is twofold, as it supports circulation for the mother and baby. As the uterus progresses in size during pregnancy, it begins to compress major blood vessels, including the inferior vena cava, before returning to the heart.

Lying on one's left side minimizes compression on the inferior vena cava, therefore improving blood flow to the placenta and baby, and also assisting in the supply of oxygen and nutrients for the baby, as well as ameliorating obesity-related swelling in the legs and ankles highly prevalent during pregnancy from fluid retention and decreased venous return.

In addition to improving circulation, lying on the left side reduces stresses on the back and internal organs, therefore more comfort for the mother.

8. Decreases Snoring and Sleep Apnea Symptoms

Although snoring is an inconvenience, it can also indicate a serious respiratory issue like sleep apnea. Sleeping position can significantly affect the severity of snoring and other breathing related issues. For example, sleeping with your back down usually causes the tongue with other soft tissues in the throat to collapse backwards, therefore blocking air from flowing.

Sleeping on the left side will help facilitate some air flow that will not exaggerate the extremely violent vibrations within the throat's tissues, therefore reducing snoring and other respiratory problems. For obstructive sleep apnea patients, sleeping on the left side may help moderate and reduce the number and intensity of an apneic episodes by providing slight limitations on the tongue falling back.

This formulation of sleep is not only beneficial to the sleep, but also to their partner who might be disturbed by deep breathing and choking sounds. Improved breathing through the night also promotes better oxygen saturation, which leads to better focus and improved stamina during the day. 

How to Get Used to Sleeping on the Left Side

It can be a bit of a hassle to get accustomed to sleeping on your left side after a lifetime of sleeping on your back or right side. Here are some ideas to ease into left-side sleeping: 

Use a body pillow: Line the pillow in a way that it allows you to have a full-length pillow along

Rest on a quality mattress: Select a quality, medium-firm mattress that will support your side while keeping your spine in alignment. 

Try positional cues:  Sew a tennis ball into the back of your pajamas or use the pillow wedge that is available to help keep you from turning onto your back. 

Start slow: Try laying on your left side for brief amounts of time during the day before falling asleep and gradually increase your time.

As you practice laying on your left side, your body will become accustomed to the position, and it will feel more natural and comfortable.

Final Thoughts

Sleep duration and quality are certainly important factors, but the position you sleep in also affects many aspects of our health. From digestion and circulation to increasing your odds for healthy pregnancy, quality sleeping position few of us even think about. Now that you are educated on why you should sleep on your side and specifically your left side. You can intentionally practice sleeping on your side and encourage your body to fall asleep on your side.