I've thought about this for a long time since I like to sleep on my left side, but was surprised to hear it mentioned on a recent Dr. Oz show.

Dr. Oz said that when you sleep on your left side you're 'crowding' your heart and not giving it very much room. He said that it gets squeezed up against the chest cavity and someone who frequently sleeps on their left side may be opening themselves up for potential heart problems in the future.

Any thoughts on this?

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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~Immanual Kant~

Sleeping on the left side does crowd the heart. Those with heart conditions such as CHF,enlarged heart and high blood pressure will be most affected. Some people with CHF sew a tennis ball in their pyjamas on the left shoulder so they wont turnover to sleep on their left hand side during the night.

https://www.netwellness.org/question.cfm/57909.htm

Interesting, thanks for your reply liverock.

I heard another doctor say you SHOULD sleep on left. I always sleep on left because on right I get stomach pains. On the left, the heart is at the bottom so gravity helps the returning blood. The suction side of any pump has a harder time getting fluid because it has to suck it in.

CHinese say sleep on back. THis probably is the best.

If my memory serves me right, our hearts are in the middle of our chest and there might be a little more heart leaning toward the left. But, i don't see how that would make a significant difference in regard to more pressure on the left over the right while sleeping.

Although, I have a mitral valve prolapse & I do have difficulty sleeping on my left side as it brings on irrigular heart beats, yet I'm fine on my right side. hmmm He might be on to something.

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