Does It Matter How Grok Slept?
Since you’ve gone Primal all sorts of strange questions pop into your head. And since you’ve gone Primal life has definitely changed. You wore Vibrams to your last shareholder meeting. The idea of skipping two, or heck, three consecutive meals, seems perfectly reasonable, and your idea of a frozen treat is that local, pastured lamb you’ve got sitting in your chest freezer, deconstructed. You’re even toying with the idea of ditching shampoo. Sheesh. To outsiders, you’re that weird caveman guy who eats steak for lunch and keeps a jar of coconut oil at his desk and thinks he’s living in the Paleolithic, but really, you’re just someone who’s discovered that keeping an ear, an eye, and a foot in our ancestral past makes living in the present that much more fulfilling – and healthy.
But how far do you go? What about sleeping? (Here come those questions…) Should we care how and upon what type of bedding Grok slumbered?
Primal is often about correcting a deficiency, or righting a “wrong.” Heart disease, diabetes, obesity are real, pressing issues for modern man that are not being addressed by our modern diets, so it makes sense to look at the lifestyles of populations (of any era) that did not suffer from these afflictions. If we can establish that modern patterns of sleep are giving us fits – that there is indeed a modern wrong that needs righting – perhaps it makes sense to look to traditional methods of sleeping for relief. So, is sleep an issue for us? Does modern sleep need correcting?
Probably. If you ask Wikipedia, we’ve identified at least seventeen common medical sleep disorders. These are real medical afflictions with fancy polysyllabic names, which make me think that sleep, at least for a significant portion of the population, is dysfunctional. Besides, we’ve all heard the complaints that people have about sleep. They toss and turn, they wake up in the middle of the night, they can’t find a comfortable position, they snore, they wake up with aches and pains. If you ask your coworkers or a random acquaintance how they sleep, I’ll bet half will reply, “Badly.” Why is this?
It’s tough to pin down a single cause for our collective sleep woes. Is it the chronic stress disrupting our hormonal balance, or the SAD? Are thoughts of work weighing heavily on our minds and preventing sleep from taking hold? Or have we forgotten how to position our bodies atop unsuitable bedding? Is it all of the above?
I’m sure it all has an effect, and I’m all about eating the right foods, managing stress, and enjoying life, but today I’m interested in the effects of modern sleep posture and modern bedding. It’s the (seemingly common) tossing and turning that really sets off a red flag, for me, because that seems like the manifestation of your subconscious self actively and vociferously searching for a comfortable position in bed. For the sweet spot. You know what I mean – that perfect position in bed, where your joints align and your spine feels right as you slip effortlessly off into the dream world. Why don’t we find that all the time?
As I’m writing this post, my dog – happy, lazy hound that he is – sleeps. He’s been sleeping for the past two hours without moving. He looks a bit like this. Same position, in fact. But he hasn’t moved at all. Oh, his paws have twitched a few times and his tail has mysteriously wagged, but he’s the picture of comfort. This dude is sleeping well. He found the sweet spot. He always seems to find the sweet spot, no matter where or when he sleeps. Dog bed, hardwood floor, backseat – it doesn’t matter. He makes it work.
I wonder how it comes so easily for animals.
In her book on posture, Esther Gokhale (I’m always tempted to type “Grokhale”) discusses the right way to lie down. Whether you’re in bed, on a cot, or on the floor, the key is to lengthen your spine. You touch ground with your sacrum, lay your palms on the ground, and slowly lower yourself back, taking care to actively lengthen your spine – vertebrae by vertebrae – by pushing through your hands. The result is an oddly awkward feeling; you really do feel longer than normal. It takes a few minutes to get used to it, but it’s an incredibly comfortable way to lie down. The first time I tried it, I fell asleep (inadvertently) in ten minutes. In fact, her method of “stretch lying” was my biggest takeaway from the book, simply because I wasn’t expecting to learn how to lie down. Posture? Yeah, I see how modern posture is dysfunctional, but I figured lying down was pretty basic stuff that no one could mess up. My sleep is better than ever since adopting her method of lying down. I no longer have to find the sweet spot to get my joints aligned and my spine supported. I am the sweet spot.
Dogs don’t need the Gokhale method, of course. They don’t need to pay attention to spine lengthening or support. They just do it naturally. Look at that canine in the picture again and note how everything lines up effortlessly. Babies and tots are able to sleep just as easily because their ideas of posture aren’t tainted (they don’t even have “ideas” of posture; like dogs, they just lie there… it’s very Zen).
What about bedding?
Research tends to show mixed results when looking at people’s preferences for bed firmness, with some experiencing more pain with firmer beds and less with “medium-firm”. Conventional wisdom (for millennia, in fact) holds that firmer beds are best for back pain (think ascetic monks lying on mats), but the recent research mars that assumption.
Honestly, from my investigation I don’t think the bedding matters too much as long as you’ve got the right sleep posture. I may risk belaboring my analogy further, but I’m going to look at the dog again. He sleeps anywhere and on any surface. He seems to show a preference for lying on something (whether it be a random towel or his fluffy dog bed), but he sleeps just as well on the hardwood floor. Maintaining that perfect sleep posture seems to be key to his success.
I’ve had similar experiences. As long as I’m mindful of the length of my spine, I can stretch out just about anywhere and be comfortable. I figure we were born without beds, so we probably come naturally equipped to flop down and sleep on the ground. At the same time, I prefer sleeping in my bed above hunkering down on the cold hard floor (although the company might have something to do with it), and I suffer no ill effects from it.
Still, I know you guys love to hack just about anything you can, so tomorrow I’ll discuss some alternative sleep postures (and maybe some bedding options).
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
Hi Mark and fellow Gorkers,
I’ve been lurking about for the past couple of months; started reading The Primal Blueprint and have embarked on my “Primal Journey”. I have suffered with sporadic bouts of insomnia for many years. Organic Bedding and using Grounding Sheets have helped tremendously; along with adding extra house plants to clean the inside air of your bedroom and home and eliminating as many toxic (store bought) cleaners as possible from my home environment. . For all interested check out http://www.earthinginstitute.net/ http://www.organicmattress.ca/ http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h110Indoorair.html
Hi, Mark.
One thing I’ve noticed is that I am most uncomfortable in complete darkness. I have to have the TV on, only for the light it provides (although I don’t like hearing the sound from the TV). Maybe that is primal, like the light from a fireplace, or the Moon….I simply can’t sleep in complete darkness. I start to see hallucinate even with my eyes closed. nothing psych ward worthy, but shapes, colors, stuff like that.
Check about sleep issues and methods on Mercola’s site – esp. regarding the effects of ambient light. I discovered that removing all light (even teh alarm clock) helps me sleep better. The TV (sound and light) is incredibly detrimental to your healthy sleep. I have never had a TV in my bedroom and never will. After trying Mercola’s suggestions I don’t need and alarm clock anymore either. Good Luck !
I remember reading some research quite a few months back and they found that the firmer the surface you sleep on, the less deep you slept or the quality of sleep is reduced because you spend more time moving around in your sleep because of pressure build up or something like that.
Interesting article! I have finally found my perfect combo for a great night sleep. Complete darkness(which I have read can be important for women in regulating cycles). A low carb- paleo diet and cod-liver oil (for the vit D). I have had years of insomnia but sleep great now and wake up well-rested even though I have a cosleeping baby that nurses some at night.
I sleep on a $100 spring-loaded cot, with a World’s Most Perfect Pillow adjusted to cradle my head with minimal neck support. Better than any motel bed.
Like this?
http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/4623/bifoldspringcotrda30690.jpg
I have not used one in a long time but may give it a try.
Used to have to have my special pillow (buckwheat) for my head and a large down filled pillow to put between my knees. After reading the article on instinctual sleeping postures, I gave up my pillows completely and have not looked back. It has helped my occupational neck issues immensely !!
Any idea to help Lady Grok’s sleep?
I usually could fall asleep in 10 min. & sleep well if i’m sleepy.
my problems:
(1) i just don’t get sleepy until at least 0130. going to bed earlier is just a waste of time (tossing).
(2) i also get up 2 times/night,
if i drink less liquid in the night, i’d get up only once.
ok.
(1) F.lux has done nothing for me.
2) exercise also does not help. i did a boot camp (5 hr/day for a week), i still didn’t get sleepy any earlier.
thanks.
Ha ha Grokhale! Good one!
hi there! i am non-english speaker, please help me get this:
“You touch ground with your sacrum, lay your palms on the ground, and slowly lower yourself back, taking care to actively lengthen your spine – vertebrae by vertebrae – by pushing through your hands.”
- is it just lying on the back basically? And hands lying next to it on the ground?
thanks a lot for the help
Thanks for making me google “sacrum”…
I am a bit confused about the long lying — from what position am I putting my sacrum and palms on the ground?
I have been reading and following Mercola’s suggestions on light and sleep and am having much success. Just came back from a campout with the Cub Scout Pack (listened to all the parents complain about sleeping on the ground) Notice how young children can sleep anywhere with little discomfort. My Tai Chi friend advises me to watch animals and children for signs of how we should do many things. I think sleeping is one of them. This post digs into a big ongoing subject for me (as someone who camps alot with very little attention to cots and pads etc.) However the cot comment above makes me think about the absolutely wonderful sleep I have at week-long Scout Summer Camp in the miltary cots they provide. Most often I find that after the 2nd night (on the ground or in the cot) I seem to naturally adjust and start having great sleep. Sorry for the long post – Great subject.
I think your dog really needs his nails clipped–especially the front paws.
I loved this post from the start … b/c my husband *does* keep coconut oil in his (high-rent top-of-skyscraper attorney office) desk. And hasn’t used shampoo in three years. And ….
And to think this was all *before* we found MDA! I LOVE this blog!
Why are all the comments listed as July 2nd? It’s only June 18th where I live!
…clearly I need more sleep.
Here’s a very interesting article on the subject, from over at 70sbig.com
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119282/
I saw it mentioned in a couple of comments already, but I think it is worth mentioning again. Sleeping in a hammock – the South American indigenous people’s one, not the one with the wooden sticks on either sides – can be very restful. I know it doesn’t offer the position you describe, but if you assume the correct way of sleeping in the hammock I have to say you can sleep very well.