The Chinese pay attention to “standing as loose, sitting as a clock, lying as a bow”. It emphasizes that the posture of sleeping is like a bow, which means sleeping on one’s side and curling up like a fetus in the mother. This posture is the most healthy, because in this posture, the brain is fully relaxed.
As for sleeping posture, modern medicine also stresses lying on one’s side, and lying on the right side is better. The reason is that when lying on the right side, the heart is not under pressure, and the liver is on the right side. When lying on the right side, blood is easier to return to the liver, which is a maintenance process for the liver itself. From an evolutionary point of view, this side lying sleeping posture is the most relieving, because it can most relax the brain.
Our cerebral cortex has a function, which is to make the body tense and not so loose. This is a reflection of a person’s youth and health. Therefore, young people will appear straight and upright, while old people seem to have lost their strength. It is the brain that adjusts the tension of muscles unconsciously. However, in this tension process, the brain consumes energy. Even if you don’t think, even if you don’t notice, this energy consumption is always going on. Because of energy consumption, we need to rest. Naturally, the posture during sleep is very important. It determines the quality of sleep. Therefore, first of all, we should adopt a posture where the brain is completely powerless.
If you lie on your back with your limbs stretched out, your skeletal muscles will maintain a certain degree of tension at this time. If you keep this posture all night, it may be difficult to fall asleep at first, and even if you fall asleep the next day, you will feel very tired. However, if you curl up together, like a bow, or like a fetus in the mother, the muscles can not be used. This posture can easily make people fall asleep, and the quality of sleep is also high. Because in this posture, the brain cancels all the “control” of skeletal muscles, so the brain can relax and breathe.
The reason why the fetus maintains this posture is that the cerebral cortex at that time was not fully developed and had no ability to control the muscles. The muscles naturally took the most relaxed and primitive posture. If we can return to the original state in sleep, we can actually ensure that the brain can relax when it is fully “off duty”. Not only sleep, but also when we observe the posture of people when they are tired, they will unconsciously collapse, loosen their shoulders, and fork their hands at the waist. At this time, the skeletal muscles of the body are relaxed, and the reason for relaxation is that the brain is tired and can’t “manage” its subordinates. Conversely, if you take the initiative to take this relaxed posture, it is also a kind of energy saving for the brain, which makes the brain relaxed and relaxed by “being dismissed”.
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