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walkitoutPrefatory note: When I woke up this morning, I had the idea to write about the importance of sleep and how the body functions, and how a lot of people could maybe make good use of a general description of all that. Phrases like esophageal sphincter can be really offputting, so none of that here. Ditto with using a word like “sinus”, which honestly just means open space. I hope this is useful, and not too gross.
Humans are a bunch of tubes in a bag. Some of the tubes are bidirectional in normal use, for example, we breathe in and out using the same tubes. Some of the tubes are normally single-direction, but can become bidirectional in some circumstances. For example, the food-to-waste tubes are normally single-directional, but on occasion can reverse direction. Some tubes are really weird, like some of the tubes in our head that air goes in and out of and sometimes phlegm goes out of, and which further connect to food tubes in various branches. Sleep is important, is generally engaged in horizontally, while many waking activities are engaged in vertically, and while the tubes have some mechanisms to ensure correct directionality and use of the tubes continues in all orientation, natural anatomical variation can compromise those mechanisms. Also, illness and aging processes compromise those mechanism. However, there are choices that we can make to improve the success of the mechanisms that ensure correct directionality and use of the tubes.
Anesthesia had a long, sad history of people dying abruptly. Some of those deaths were eventually attributed to bad reactions to anesthesia of an allergic or similar intolerant nature, in which the air tubes swelled and prevented air from moving through the tubes to the lungs. However, many of those deaths were mitigated by ensuring emptiness of the food tubes. When the food tubes are not empty, reverse travel of the contents of the food tubes can reach back to the point where they connect to the air tubes, then travel down into the lungs and cause death.
GERD, also known as reflux, is another example of backwards movement through the food tubes, in this case often because a valve does not stop the backwards movement through the food tubes. Backwards movement through the food tubes can occur because of pressure from further down the food tubes causing things moving through the food tubes to stop forward movement and even reverse. Pressure can be caused by volume of food within the lower parts of the food tubes (due to failure to exit the food tubes in a timely manner) or due to expansion of volume within the food tubes (“gas”).
Peristalsis involves muscles moving food forward along the food tubes. The muscular movement can be slowed by drugs, hormones, lack of water and illness.
Consider also the head tubes, in which phlegm moves through air tubes and open spaces in the head.
In general, if we are up and about, peristalsis may not have to work quite as hard, and the valve that prevents backward movement through the food tubes is less challenged. The phlegm moving through open spaces and air tubes in the head can descend and either be ejected from the mouth opening of the main tube, or swallowed and digested with food and ultimately ejected from the other end of the main tube.
However, when we lie down to sleep, the opposite of all these things is true.
We can reduce the difficulties we present to our tubes while lying down by limiting additions to the tube in the time immediately before bed — the older we are and/or the more sensitive our tubes, the more time will be needed for them to clear the tube system safely. We can also time medications designed to reduce phlegm to be at maximum efficacy during the time we are lying down. Also, we can elevate our head, and possibly our torso, depending on which tubes are creating the most current problems, while asleep, to at least leave a gentle slope in the correct, downward direction.
More generally, food choices that ensure things continue moving through the food tubes at a consistent pace (fiber, high moisture content and/or hydration with food) and minimizing medication that slows the muscles that move food through the tubes can also ensure that movement through the tubes does not reverse and cause distress. Some exercise can help with this as well (walking, for example).
Humans are a bunch of tubes in a bag. Some of the tubes are bidirectional in normal use, for example, we breathe in and out using the same tubes. Some of the tubes are normally single-direction, but can become bidirectional in some circumstances. For example, the food-to-waste tubes are normally single-directional, but on occasion can reverse direction. Some tubes are really weird, like some of the tubes in our head that air goes in and out of and sometimes phlegm goes out of, and which further connect to food tubes in various branches. Sleep is important, is generally engaged in horizontally, while many waking activities are engaged in vertically, and while the tubes have some mechanisms to ensure correct directionality and use of the tubes continues in all orientation, natural anatomical variation can compromise those mechanisms. Also, illness and aging processes compromise those mechanism. However, there are choices that we can make to improve the success of the mechanisms that ensure correct directionality and use of the tubes.
Anesthesia had a long, sad history of people dying abruptly. Some of those deaths were eventually attributed to bad reactions to anesthesia of an allergic or similar intolerant nature, in which the air tubes swelled and prevented air from moving through the tubes to the lungs. However, many of those deaths were mitigated by ensuring emptiness of the food tubes. When the food tubes are not empty, reverse travel of the contents of the food tubes can reach back to the point where they connect to the air tubes, then travel down into the lungs and cause death.
GERD, also known as reflux, is another example of backwards movement through the food tubes, in this case often because a valve does not stop the backwards movement through the food tubes. Backwards movement through the food tubes can occur because of pressure from further down the food tubes causing things moving through the food tubes to stop forward movement and even reverse. Pressure can be caused by volume of food within the lower parts of the food tubes (due to failure to exit the food tubes in a timely manner) or due to expansion of volume within the food tubes (“gas”).
Peristalsis involves muscles moving food forward along the food tubes. The muscular movement can be slowed by drugs, hormones, lack of water and illness.
Consider also the head tubes, in which phlegm moves through air tubes and open spaces in the head.
In general, if we are up and about, peristalsis may not have to work quite as hard, and the valve that prevents backward movement through the food tubes is less challenged. The phlegm moving through open spaces and air tubes in the head can descend and either be ejected from the mouth opening of the main tube, or swallowed and digested with food and ultimately ejected from the other end of the main tube.
However, when we lie down to sleep, the opposite of all these things is true.
We can reduce the difficulties we present to our tubes while lying down by limiting additions to the tube in the time immediately before bed — the older we are and/or the more sensitive our tubes, the more time will be needed for them to clear the tube system safely. We can also time medications designed to reduce phlegm to be at maximum efficacy during the time we are lying down. Also, we can elevate our head, and possibly our torso, depending on which tubes are creating the most current problems, while asleep, to at least leave a gentle slope in the correct, downward direction.
More generally, food choices that ensure things continue moving through the food tubes at a consistent pace (fiber, high moisture content and/or hydration with food) and minimizing medication that slows the muscles that move food through the tubes can also ensure that movement through the tubes does not reverse and cause distress. Some exercise can help with this as well (walking, for example).