6 Benefits of Sleeping with Your Legs Elevated

Using an adjustable bed frame to comfortably sleep with the legs elevated can give the body healing time at night when fighting edemas, leg swelling, and even to relieve brain pressure. Raising the legs above heart level will let the body receive better blood circulation as it repairs itself from a day of running around or sitting.

Overview: Benefits of Sleeping With Your Legs Elevated

Sleeping with your legs and feet elevated has many health benefits, from helping to improve blood flow to keeping swelling and inflammation down. While you can elevate your legs by propping them on pillows, investing in an adjustable base is a go-to solution that has many other health benefits as well.

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I. 6 Benefits of Sleeping with Legs Elevated

Running on the go, along with sitting and standing conducting daily life chores, causes gravity to pull the body down. This causes symptoms of tired legs, sore backs, and poor circulation as the blood fights to travel up in the body towards the heart and brain.

The weight of a tired bodyplaced solely on the feet and legs can cause immense health issues if not addressed. Dangerous blood clots can appear along with painful back problems and circulatory issues causing swelling of the feet and legs. By placing the legs and knees in an elevated position for sleep time, the body will have time to repair and allow for the blood to flow throughout the body to give the lower half a rest.

Sleeping with legs elevated allows for the body to literally take a load off to rejuvenate by pumping the venous blood back towards the heart. As the blood circulates the body will feel more relaxed and a peaceful and healthful sleep can occur.

Better Blood Circulation

It may sound odd but one should elevate the legs to achieve a better flow of blood to the legs and feet. Raised leg poses have been practiced in yoga as an avenue to drain old blood from the feet to improve blood circulation.

Placing the legs and feet in a position above the heart level it assists in helping gravity move the blood from the lower half up to the heart. This allows for a heart rich in blood to not have to work so hard as it pumps the blood to the body, allowing for smoother blood flow and time for the heart to rest.

Minimize Chronic Back Pain and Sciatica Symptoms

As the body’s longest nerve, the sciatic nerve can wreak havoc and pain when inflamed. This nerve follows the spinal cord down the back into the buttocks and then down both legs. When the sciatic nerve is irritated by compression or inflammation it can create lower back pain, leg pain, and even numbness in the legs and feet.

This chronic back pain problem can be minimized by lying on the back with the knees elevated. An adjustable bed will easily allow to perfectly position the knees to reduce the pressure that the lumbar discs put on roots of the nerve.

Reduces Edema in the Legs and Feet

There are several reasons one may experience edema’s leg swelling effects caused by extra fluid buildup. The symptoms of stretched and shiny skin can be the result of something as simple as standing for an extended period to congestive heart failure.
The diagnosis of edema can come from several causes:

• Fluid can build up in the lower extremities when forced to stand or sit for a long period, especially in a hotter climate.
• Venous insufficiency, resulting from weakened valves inside leg veins, causes fluid retention from the veins working harder to pump blood back to the heart.
• A buildup of fluid can be created by lung diseases that place pressure in blood vessels between the heart and lungs making it a burden on the heart as veins struggle to pump blood back to it.
• Fluid retention in the feet and ankles is common when one is stricken with congestive heart failure resulting from a heart that cannot pump effectively.
• Kidney and liver disease, as well as poor nutrition, can cause low levels of protein in the blood which can lead to edema in the lower legs, ankles, and feet.

Pregnancy can also result in preeclampsia, a serious condition that can cause fluid buildup.
Along with staying on a low-sodium diet and reducing fluid intake, it helps to rest and sleep with the legs elevated above the heart level to reduce swelling. This can be a serious condition that one should seek medical help with.

Lessen Risk of Swollen Feet and Tired Leg Pain

When the legs are elevated it aids in draining tensions from the legs and feet. This occurs as pressure is taken off the veins allowing for better flow from them to the heart and the rest of the body. This aids in the relief of pain from tired legs and lessens risk of feet swelling from the pressures of holding up the body.

Alleviate Symptoms of Varicose Veins and Lymphedema

A leg with leaking varicose veins will see the pooling of blood and products of waste gather to create an accumulation of toxins and pressure within the limb. This occurrence results in painful legs that feel heavy and tired. As the day goes on with sitting and standing symptoms tend to get worse.

The same leaking veins can cause problems beyond just the legs. Problem veins that cause pressure retention can also result in creating lymphedema – damage to the body’s lymphatic system. The tiny thin channels of lymphatics collect the lymph tissue fluid from the body to transmit it back through the bloodstream. Lethargic lymphatics, that are not doing their proper job, can produce swelling to the feet and toes.

By raising the legs at the end of the day and sleeping with legs elevated symptoms of varicose veins and lymphedema leg swelling can be relieved.

Prevent DVT

The condition known as Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) is the result of a blood clot emerging in the large veins located in the body’s lower extremities. DVT is a life-threatening condition that can cause a clot to travel through a vein to the heart or lungs. When this occurs, it is called a pulmonary embolism which can be fatal. A medical professional must be contacted to treat DVT.

Once under the care of a doctor one can take care to help ease DVT by keeping the legs elevated to relieve pain. Legs should be raised to above heart level. In addition to pain relief the raised legs will also aid in swelling reduction and circulation to keep the blood flowing.

II. How to Sleep with Legs Elevated

The best avenue to use to elevate legs is to lay down on an adjustable bed. These bases are equipped with remotes that will easily raise your legs to the most comfortable position needed to ease pain, and promote relaxation and healing.

If an adjustable base is unavailable, the legs can be elevated on a stack of pillows. Take care to position the elevation so that legs are sitting above heart level to create the best of blood flow and circulation. If possible, take three to four breaks during the day to rest the legs in the elevated position for 10-15 minutes each time.

III.Adjustable Base + Memory Foam Mattress = Ultimate Comfort

Sleeping with the legs elevated can be beneficial when looking increase blood flow and circulation to combat some serious health conditions. An adjustable bed base with a soothing memory foam mattress is the best prescription for raising legs to be elevated above the heart. Make sure to consult with a medical professional as part of your journey to improved health. With the right care, along with an adjustable bed base to raise you to a healthy position to keep acids from causing more harm, you will be on the way to better health and sleep. Add to the adjustable bed a comfortable memory foam mattress, great pillows and bedding to achieve the best sleep possible.