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When I was a kid, I remember I loved going to the neighborhood
carnivals. Some of the rides made me a little dizzy but I
still managed to enjoy them. However, there was one ride that
always made my stomach queasy even just to look at it. It
was called the Gravitron.
 It
was the ride where everyone walked into a cylinder room and
stood up against the wall then waited for the cylinder room
to spin. As the ride began increasing its spin, from out on
top of the ride’s open ceiling, you could watch people in
this round room below start to get pressed up against the
wall. The faster the ride spun the more difficult it was for
the people inside to move from their position. They were immobile,
plastered against the wall of the ride. While the spinning
cylinder ride gained speed, the floor would sink away with
only centrifugal/centripetal force and gravity suspending
the riders.
This Gravitron ride is a metaphor for what’s happening to
our body’s Myofascial System as we sleep. The spinning cylinder
ride, turned inside out, represents the spinning earth. As
the “earth-ride” spins, gravity draws our body towards the
earth. Also, Centripetal and Centrifugal forces keep life
on the surface from spinning off the face of earth and our
planet from spinning out of orbit. These “C-forces” also add
more external pressure to our body’s Myofascial System.
As we sleep, it’s as if we were laying our body against the
wall of this metaphorical spinning cylinder ‘earth-ride’.
Our mattress acts as the cushion between our body and the
hard earth (the walls of the ride turned inside out). As this
“earth-ride” spins throughout the night our body’s Myofascial
System is subject to intense gravity and Centripetal and Centrifugal
forces.
http://www.mywiseowl.com/articles/Centripetal_force
As we lay in our beds, we are being compressed against our
mattress like we would be in that Gravitron ride where the
wall is acting as our floor and the mattress our buffer.
Think about how you sleep. Now, think about how you fall asleep.
Picture the position you put your body into in order to help
you fall asleep. The number of adults who claim to fall asleep
on their stomachs is a minority compared to those who fall
asleep on their sides. For the majority, whether in the arms
of a loved one, or alone with pets, they are falling asleep
on their sides usually facing out from the center of the bed.
This particular sleep position is how most people will let
go of consciousness and relax into deep sleep.
 Whatever
posture you assume when you FALL into sleep is the position
you will be “locked” into when you attain REM sleep. That’s
the dream cycle we all reach during our sleep. REM sleep is
characterized by when our closed eyes move back and forth.
It’s also during REM sleep that the brain sends out enzymes
that aid the body in maintaining deep sleep by limiting body
movements during this phase of sleep. This restriction on
the body, known as muscle atonia, is to keep the body from
physically responding to the dreams the mind is having. REM
sleep varies in length but normally can last up to 4 hours
of the night.
Sleep paralysis occurs during REM sleep in order to prevent
the body from manifesting movements made in the subject's
dreams. Very little is known about the physiology of sleep
paralysis. However, some have suggested that it may be linked
to post-synaptic inhibition of motor neurons in the pons region
of the brain. In particular, low levels of melatonin may stop
the depolarization current in the nerves, which prevents the
stimulation of the muscles, to prevent the body from enacting
the dreamt activity (e.g. preventing a sleeper from flailing
his legs when dreaming about running.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis
Now, imagine that your bed is in that spinning ride and you
FALL asleep on your right or left side. The enzymes from your
brain keep your body immobile and from reacting to your dreams.
No matter if the brain is aware of the body’s discomfort,
the body will not respond to any messages from the brain.
The gravity and 'C-forces': Centripetal and Centrifugal forces
of the “earth-ride” continue to keep your body pressed into
that ‘mattress-wall'.
The “earth-ride” keeps spinning and soon your shoulder girdle
and pelvis begin compressing into the spine. All the major
joints of your body, from your shoulders to your hips, knees
and even ankles, are being squeezed into each other or pressed
into the bed. This is what I call 'C-force' compression of
the spine. The forces that the spinning earth generates have
an effect on the body’s Myofascial Sytem at all times.
I am suggesting 'C-force' compression as a way to describe
the effect this earth’s rotation has on our body’s Myofascial
System during sleep. 'C-force' compression to the Myofascial
System during sleep could be a contributing factor for a majority
of people with back problems. This natural force of spinal
compression is not yet scientifically authorized. But, I believe
'C-force' compression of the spine to be what exacerbates
back problems or what repeatedly damages our Myofascial System
overtime.
Imagine if you spent one waking hour with your body contorted
into the posture you assume when you fall asleep. You realize
that you are able to consciously register discomfort. How
long could you endure the posture before the stress would
become intolerable?
It’s my belief that retraining yourself to fall into sleep
by posturing yourself on your back can help prevent many potential
injuries to the Myofascial System and can result in less back
pain in the morning.
 Falling
asleep on your back will allow the muscles to fall back away
from the spine and into the mattress. Once REM has been completed,
the REM sleep enzymes wear off and the body will be free again
to move in bed. That’s when side sleeping would be less stressful
to the body’s Myofascial System. The brain can only respond
to the signals of discomfort after the REM sleep cycle is
complete. Then, the brain can respond with signaling the muscles
to adjust its posture usually by turning over. This in turn
creates less tension and stress to this delicate system of
muscle-tissue known as the Myofascial System.
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