HALSONISSENS HALSOTIPS #2: MONDAY WEEK 50 2023 Sleeping WITHOUT(!) a pillow

No-pillow sleeping

Hi THERE, halsonissen HERE🔆

Hope you’re doing well and balancing the books of life.

This weeks subject(s) are: Sleeping WITHOUT(!) a pillow

If you’re new here, this is a newsletter where I talk about what I’ve thought about, am interested in and have concluded may help others.

Content of this mail:

A. The info

B. My experience/view

C. Next week

A. The info

You’re maybe thinking: what the heck!

I understand you.

No-pillow sleeping seems odd and perhaps counterintuitive at first.

We don’t question if the pillow, which we rest our heads on for 1/3 of our lives, enables our healthiest version or not.

No-pillow sleeping:

Is beneficial for your posture.

Your brain too.

Let me explain WHY…

Posture:

Due to our modern livestyles; sitting - even leaning over - desks, our posture aborbs quite a blow. This can’t go on forever and it may appear as pain somewhere.

No-pillow sleeping COUNTERS this by letting your posture to NEUTRAL (your body prefers this).

Brain:

During sleep, the blood brain barrier relaxes to let CSF into the neurons and flush out the build-up from the day. - Lin

Build-up of specifically tau and amyloid-beta, if I remember correctly.

CSF (Cerebrospinal FLUID) that runs up your spine and brain. Neuron is nerve cells.

How does the blood-brain barrier play into this?

The blood brain barrier (BBB) filters passage into the brain. It’s perhaps active at day where the CSF cleanses at night.

Think of this build-up cleaning like vacuuming the floor before mopping.

It’s easier to clean it then. No big particles then adheres to the mop - which would be the nerve cells.

/

Details:

CSF usually flows around the ‘ventricles’, think of them as bladders.

Glymphatic system is the system in which e.g. this mechanism is studied.

B. My experience/view

I switched to it directly.

Was weird the first nights. Didin’t sleep as well. Not weird …

I sometimes roll around in my sleep and end up on my side. Sometimes hurts upon waking up.

Keep in mind:

Adjust to it if you decide to go no-pillow

If your neck’s strained already you might still need some support. I’m gonna implement a small neck pillow due to my massage therapist told me it’s strained. I’d say it’s due to no-pillow or posture.

Inspriation

However I was brought to this idea by none other than the great functional dentist, Dr. Steven Lin.

C. Next week

Wel’ll talk about Snoring.

Catch you in the next one

Jakob 🌞

P.S we have some momentum in this area of expertise - sleep, breathing.