Is it Better to Sleep With Your Head or Feet Elevated?

Is it Better to Sleep With Your Head or Feet Elevated?

Imagine sleeping with your head and feet lifted slightly higher than usual. Like on most other nights, laying flat on your back or side allows you to be comfortable on your mattress for the first few hours or minutes. But, sure enough, body weight, gravity, and pressure kick in, and sore spots flare up, often causing tossing and turning caused by pain or discomfort, especially on an old, worn-out, or extra-firm mattress.


Many don't realize that the pressure points inflicted while trying to sleep or relax are often the culprits of resting in a flat position without enough support to fill in the slopes of their body's shape and spine's natural curvature.

Ultimately, adequate support from an elevated bed releases pressure on the body, promotes healthy sleep posture, and helps with many other health and sleep-related issues. So these days, more and more people are discovering the health-related benefits of laying or sleeping in an elevated position and the convenience that an adjustable base brings along with accomplishing that goal.


Many are intrigued by the tangible benefits of an adjustable base and sleeping in an elevated position. However, the thought of transitioning to an adjustable bed frame might seem overwhelming. Most people know little about adjustable bed frames. There is no need to worry; the sleep experts at Bed Tech are here to guide you toward discovering how an adjustable base can provide the relief and comfort you need to manage health-related symptoms and achieve better sleep quality as soon as possible.


What Does it Mean to Sleep In An Elevated Position?


adjustable sleep position

Most understand the comfort of sleeping on a reclining couch or chair, forming an ergonomic position with the head, legs, and feet lifted, and creating an elevated position. Sleeping this way means your body rests slightly upright, with a bolster to support beneath the knees while keeping your head and feet elevated. Resting with enhanced support to the curves of your body helps neutralize the spine and reduce pressure on the entire upper and lower body, including the lower back and hips.


Despite the comfort of a reclining chair, there's much more to discover about sleeping in an elevated position with your mattress. The benefits and convenience of multi-functional adjustable beds are a modern solution to managing health-related issues, advancing well beyond the outdated methods of creating an inclined sleeping surface.


Let Bygones Be Wedge Pillows and Foundations


After all, wedge foundations, pillows, and similar products have always been a hassle, constantly shifting and falling off the bed, requiring constant rearrangement. Most of these accessories, like wedge pillows, are bound to end up as one of the rejects in the linen closet. Undeniably, when it comes to sleeping in an elevated position, adjustable bases outperform wedges, risers, and all other products in ease of use, product satisfaction, and ability to enhance your sleep health.


Choosing a method to influence your future of sleep is straightforward: stacking pillows or using a foundation wedge versus adding an adjustable bed frame; the competition is nonexistent when seeking to elevate your sleeping surface.


Adjustable beds, like the Bed Tech 2500, indefinitely outshine other products, offering superior support, versatility, and convenience in this modern world. When people are on the move, busy with work or play, many have little time to stop and smell the roses, making the need for comfort and convenience a more pronounced expectation than ever before. Indeed, other products that attempt to help you create an elevated bed have nothing on what an adjustable base can offer!


Advantages of Sleeping With Your Head and Feet Elevated


zero gravity adjustable bed

Most people appreciate the comfort of a reclining couch or chair, as it helps create an ergonomic position with the head, legs, and feet lifted. This position supports a healthy sleep posture by balancing the spine and reducing pressure on the lower back and hips, not to mention the many other comfort-related benefits. 


Despite the comfort associated with a reclining chair, there is much more to discover about sleeping in an elevated position with your mattress, including the copious benefits and convenience that adjustable beds offer to manage the symptoms of health-related issues and help you sleep better.


Elevating the top half of your body can help alleviate symptoms of:

  • Snoring/Obstructed Breathing
  • Obstructive Sleep Apnea - O.S.A.
  • Asthma
  • Acid Reflux
  • G.E.R.D.
  • Allergies

Elevating the bottom half of your body can help alleviate symptoms of:

  • Sciatica
  • Scoliosis
  • Spinal Stenosis
  • Arthritis
  • Degenerative Disc Disease
  • Edema
  • Restless Leg Syndrome

Doctors and healthcare professionals recommend adjustable beds because they have a history of providing inclined bed therapy to manage the comfort and health issues of many patients. 


Professor of Neurology and Sleep Medicine Dr. Rachel Salas states, "For young, healthy people, sleep position is less important. But as you get older and have more medical issues, sleep position can become positive or negative." 


These beds, called adjustable beds, can also be helpful for anyone experiencing chronic sleep deprivation from disorders like Insomnia, Narcolepsy, and Restless Leg Syndrome. Personalizing your mattress to a unique level of comfort and support suited for your sleeping position and health concerns can be particularly beneficial in managing these conditions.


How Does Sleeping In An Elevated Position Help with Snoring and Sleep Apnea?


Snoring is the most common cause of sleep disruptions affecting our mood, especially among couples or bedrooms with multiple sleepers. Snoring sounds generally occur when the throat or airways become obstructed, combined with breathing vibrations. Symptoms of snoring can be manageable if they happen occasionally due to mild inflammation from allergies or other breathing conditions. However, a more severe condition is likely when the obstruction, snoring, and breathing issues happen every night, causing a lack of sleep. If you snore, wake up throughout the night, and feel sleepy, tired, or barely rested after trying to sleep for several hours, these are all telltale signs of Sleep Apnea.


On the severe side of snoring, Sleep apnea is more than just the sleep-disrupting sound of an obstructed airway. Sleep apnea is a chronic condition that causes the sleeper to snore while struggling to breathe due to an obstructed airway. Relaxed muscles and breathing vibrations while laying on a flat surface can cause the tongue and other surrounding muscles in the throat to sag backward, causing the blockage in the airway that leads to snoring sounds.


The worst problem with Sleep Apnea is that the sleeper will stop breathing up to several hundred times per night due to the obstructed airway and shortness of breath. According to Dr. Ilene Rosen, “Sleep apnea is essentially a disorder where while we’re sleeping at night, the airway either closes off completely or becomes so narrowed that the oxygen level drops because not enough air gets in. As the oxygen level is dropping—maybe not to dangerous levels—the brain says, ‘Hey, you’re going to do this thing I don’t like” and subconsciously awakens you.


And there's no doubt that if your lungs aren't getting enough air, your brain isn't either. So, with insufficient oxygen, our brains falter from the rejuvenating deep sleep that our bodies crave to survive. Without deep sleep, there is minimal opportunity for the human body to thrive.


And so, needless to say, when someone with Sleep apnea is asleep and stops breathing, unfortunately, they aren't really sleeping anymore, even if they look like it. So, for those with sleep apnea and who struggle with a CPAP machine, look no further than a Bed Tech adjustable base to incline your bed to alleviate your symptoms and restore your mind and body after experiencing refreshing and rejuvenating sleep once again.


Improve Your Outlook Of Elevated Sleep With an Adjustable Base


Adjustable beds, also known as adjustable bed frames, are well known for providing benefits related to inclined bed therapy. This therapy involves positioning your body with your head above your feet, which can significantly impact specific medical issues. For instance, an elevated position for sleep or rest can boost circulation, relieve inflammation, and alleviate back, neck, or hip pain. An adjustable bed frame is also a user-friendly source to help you rest more comfortably and manage symptoms of breathing disorders like Asthma and Sleep Apnea.


Suppose you've been skeptical about sleeping on a surface that isn't flat like what you're used to. In that case, ending up here is meant to help refresh your outlook on experiencing consistently healthy, deep, and restorative sleep cycles once again. Rely on the industry professionals at Bed Tech to shed light on how you, too, can discover how a multi-functional adjustable base will benefit your lifestyle.


Here, you can see that the Bed Tech sleep experts have thoroughly examined the ins, outs, ups, and downs of adjustable beds to help you envision how a specific adjustable bed, like the Bed Tech BT3000, can deliver genuine benefits for you and your loved ones. Now, how does the future of sleep quality look for you?


Experience Enhanced Comfort With Bed Tech Adjustable Bed Frames


Still, it's completely understandable if you want to personally experience the benefits of an adjustable base sleep system to see what it offers you individually. Sometimes, the true excitement of an adjustable base comes when you finally have the chance to feel it for yourself- how an elevated position for you and your mattress can significantly enhance the support for your body type and customize your sleeping surface to meet your unique needs for better sleep.


Today, experiencing the multi-functional maneuverability of an adjustable bed frame underneath a mattress can provide all the clarity you need to realize how convenient and user-friendly an adjustable bed is for your lifestyle.


Undeniably, a Bed Tech adjustable base can be a game-changer if you struggle to get adequate sleep regularly and desire to wake up feeling relaxed and refreshed after sleep once again. Believe us when we say that an adjustable base, like the Bed Tech BT6500, the most intelligent bed base, is changing the future of sleep as we know it. So don't hesitate to check out the online shop with a signature collection of adjustable base sleep systems and other bedding news from the Bed Tech Sleep Experts.

Back to blog

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.