Inclined Bed Therapy Benefits

I have been using Inclined Bed Therapy for 7 months, 5”. Prime reason for insomnia. I believe it helps to keep me asleep, but I wake up in the early hours, 3-4 am with my feet and lower legs off the mattress and I need to climb back to the top. Does anyone else have this issue? Any suggestions how to stay in the bed? My sheets are eucalyptus, not silky, the mattress is multilayer foam Nectar Premier. Platform bed, no boxspring. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

We would like to know what your results were. Please share them with us. Thank You!

What about trying apple cider vinegar? It should work as well as it alkalines the body

I have some experience on rehydration. The body is very interesting . When it thinks there is a shortage it hoards stuff. Kind of like me I suppose. Then, when you get a bunch of that stuff the body at first keeps hoarding it ....too much water can kill you and I was learning about water and salt years ago. I had a bad week of trying to do too much salt and water too fast . Start low dose and slow with any addition of exercise or food or liquid or supplements or creams or oils or inhalants. Use CAUTION so you don't have to suffer or die.

For "edema", rebounding. Get the lymphatic system circulating. If you have to, bounce on the edge of the bed, sitting far enough back that your feet are off the floor. The lymphatic system doesn't have a heart or any other physical pump, other than YOU and that motion will do the pumping. Plus, it just feels good so, BONUS!

Drink two glasses of water then set the timer on your phone to go off in 2 hours. When it goes off, drink down - I.e. no sipping - 8 ounces of water and reset the timer. The next time it goes off, drink another 8 ounces of plain water and do that throughout the waking hours.

People will tell you that you're merely diluting the acid and they'll be right but that's one of water's jobs, in the body, and if you're not getting enough water to support all of the other bodily function AND keep the acid diluted, your body is going to be too busy trying to keep you alive to deal with the acid issue. Everything your body does requires water. Every heartbeat. Every movement. Creating enough blood volume to pump blood and oxygen to the brain to keep you upright and conscious. Your very survival.

This won't rehydrate you because acid problems are proof that one has been dehydrated for a very long time and rehydrating a chronically and profoundly dehydrated body and getting everything back on track can take YEARS. Years of cleaning up the mess, repairing whatever damage its caused that CAN be repaired and just the general bodily duties BUT, you will feel better TODAY and every day from this day forward, if you do this. And if you get off track again, you'll know it because you'll recognize that feeling of an acid attack approaching and you can stop it in its tracks with those first two glasses of water.

I've tried raising the head of my bed six inches, because of acid reflux.

Had a bad dream, I dreamed that I was on a shear mountain rock wall inching my way along a narrow ledge.

What did work, was laying on my right-side, this seemed to remove the pressure of the stomach contents coming back up the throat.

Now, I just go to bed with an empty stomach and sleep on either side.

I've tried raising the foot of my bed six inches, to try and reduce the foot swelling.

It didn't work for me, what did work, was placing an extra comforter folded up into a large garbage bag.

I placed that under my calves for about an hour.

My feet didn't look normal, but, the swelling had gone down noticeably, I was able to tie my shoe laces without my feet hurting.

Same here, however, after a couple weeks, no more pain!

PERSISTANCE BEATS RESISTANCE!!!

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.

Suzieq, lower the incline of your bed. It seems too high for you. A lower incline gives just as many benefits.

I have been sleeping inclined for about a year now. I experience tightness and pain of my upper back and neck muscles. This has persisted despite the multitude of ways I've tried adding pillows to support different parts of my body. All I can think is that my upper back and neck are trying to keep me from sliding down the bed and are tensing up??? This is despite the fact that I put a pillow under my hips for that purpose.

Any help and suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated, because I'd like to continue sleeping this way.

Thank you.

Thank you all for discussing and testing my theory on Inclined Bed Therapy.

Kind regards,

Andrew K Fletcher

https://inclinedbedtherapy.com

You're very welcome and thank you for helping to share your results and helping others with IBT.

Inclined Bed Therapy is AMAZING! After suffering for years with back (previous fracture of vertebrae), feet (hurting and aching at night), lower restless legs, shoulders (two previously dislocated and frozen shoulders and a broken upper arm), neck problems from my shoulders, and gut (food sensitivities) pain; after just one week of sleeping inclined (just starting out at 3 inches) my whole body is healing and realigning. Looking forward to raising it to 6 inches shortly) I will never go back to sleeping flat. Simple solution...profound results!

Persevere, you won't regret it!

We love the ibt, have been with it for probably 8 years!

We started because of swollen feet in pregnancy so for the swelling it is amazing but for the varicose veins I can't really say!!! Would love to hear if u have more home remedies for them.

EC: Hi Beth, Here's our page on Varicose Veins.

Could it be that you have silent reflux and not acid reflux? Silent reflux only impacts you at night because the flap in your stomach is not closed and lets the acid out. So you don't actually have too much acid. If you have acid reflux it impacts you at any time of the day or night because you have an acid problem.

I started IBT about a year ago after being diagnosed with MS and searching the web for "natural" ways to manage it I came across Andrews video and the written info. I had nothing to lose by trying it and, now, I gained everything! I have not had to be treated (medication wise) for the MS, I was also at the door step of having to have back surgery, which I did not want and kept putting it off. Now, I don't need an excuse to put off surgery as I have no more back issues.

This is the by far the best remedy for so much I have ever came across and, it's free! I don't have to have surgery and as of date I don't for see myself having the need for MS medication/therapy.

I can't ever see myself sleeping flat again...One thing thou that is really hard is sex. We were never "schedulers" and now when the bed is not raised it's fun time. Yet, those times when one wakes and the mood is there the incline becomes a challenge. Sometimes to the point where we end up on the floor. If anyone is as bold as me and can give suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

All in all, our health; body, energy, sleep and dreams have been renewed.

Linann, when I first started the IBT I too had shoulder, back and neck pain for the first week to where I almost set my bed back down. Then it was gone! I can say I woke up one morning and had no pain at all. it was through researching I found out this is normal as sleeping inclined like that elongates and aligns the body. I started out at a 6" incline and when the pain started I put the bed down to 4" until it was gone, then went back up to 6" with no pain at all. Maybe you can tough it out for at least a week to ten days and, if your hubby can manage his gerd at the 4" raise for the week and then back up to 6". I so promise you the pain you feel will go away, and it is so worth the several days of getting use to sleeping like that and the aches and pains.

Hi, Was wondering if you could elaborate on your comment about the two glasses of water that provided relief from acid reflux. When did you drink the two glasses of water and how often during the day. Was the drinking of the water related with your experience with the inclined bed? I get night time acid reflux. Thanks for any info you can provide..

Hi, my husband suffers gerd and we have raised our head of bed with bricks, he has no gerd now, but I cannot sleep like that, I wake every morning with shoulder/ low back pain, I told him I couldn't sleep with him after 24 yrs of marriage, lol I'm going to get a twin bed to put next to him so we can still be together, have you heard of anyone else not being able to sleep in an inclined bed? Ty

Everyone is different. I wouldn't write a treatment off as "codswallop" simply because it didn't work for you.

I have two ruptured discs in my lower back. Between that and my hip pain, I would toss and turn all night. About a week after inclining my bed, not only was my back pain *much* improved, but my hips didn't wake me up at *all* anymore.

Natural cures are all about trial and error. (And lots and LOTS of research/reading.)

Countless people have lowered their blood pressure with simple, old apple cider vinegar, while others weren't helped by the ACV, but found another natural remedy or combination of remedies, that *did* do the trick for them. Trial and error.

The beauty of natural treatments is that while they some may not help you, they certainly won't hurt you--like medications can.

Keep reading for other alternatives to alleviate your ailment. You'll find one that helps, eventually! :)

What a load of codswallop this information is about raising the bed 6 inches is. I suffer from a herniated disc in the bottom of my spine also varicose veins in my right leg in which I developed phlebitis in 1962 and have had recurring bouts during the latter years. After having numerous injections in my back which alleviated the pain and sciatica I have been pain free for 4years and my leg I have managed the phlebitis with 2types of cream and gel from the doctors and a compression stocking. My husband whilst he was on the computer read that raising the bed by 6 inches was supposed to do one good, so we gave it a go, the first night or the first morning when I got up I could hardly walk and my leg was really bad, never mind I persisted until I have had to give up sleeping on this bed and go into the other bedroom where the mattress was firm and flat but the sciatica and leg are only getting better very slowly for all I am taking painkillers. So I advise against those with disc problems and varicose veins to raise their beds.

I've been sleeping on an incline for over 10 years and love it. I doubt I could sleep flat, even if I wanted to. But I just discovered something AWESOME about my inclined bed. It helped but I actually cured my indigestion, acid reflux and hiatal hernia with water- I haven't had any of the acid symptoms since I drank two glasses of water, the very first day I heard about it. That said...

I used to go to the chiropractor 2 or 3 times per year for neck problems and such but I saw an inversion table on tv and they talked about neck problems but ONE woman said that it cured her carpal tunnel - which I also had - so I got an inversion table and, sure enough, no more carpal tunnel AND no more visits to the chiropractor. They immediately bleeped out the woman's comments about carpal tunnel but I had already heard it so...but that's not the AWESOME part!

The AWESOME part is that with an inversion table, you don't have to go completely upside down to get the benefits. And because it is so big and awkward to set up and take down, I'd been procrastinating with regard to actually doing it but one day I was particularly sore and trying to figure out something I could do to relieve the soreness enough to actually wrestle the inversion table up and usable and I looked at my "inclined bed" and thought that since I don't actually have to go all the way upside down, I wondered...if I laid on it the wrong way around...would that provide some traction? And it DID!! And it was AWESOME!!

I laid with my head at the foot of the bed, rolled up in a sit up to sort of stretch out my spine. Then I put my arms straight over my head for a few seconds and stretched, then twisted my torso one way and stretched, then the other way and stretch and then I pull my knees up to my chest for just a few seconds, got up and felt like a new woman! It wa shocking!! I couldn't believe it!

So, now, after a day hunched over the keyboard, I lay the wrong way on my inclined bed and stretch. It's like a whole new life - a whole extra half a day of feeling good and sleeping good and just overall awesomeness!

Maggie, I've seen impressive results in taking down swollen feet, with less height.

Inclined bed therapy requires the bed to be raised a minimum of 6 inches at the head of the bed.

Gokhals, how high is the head of your bed off the floor?

Inclined bed therapy has really helped my health as well as many of my friends' health, here in California. I have been sleeping inclined for a few weeks now and its been amazing. Most of my "fatty" thigh lumps have disappeared (many after just one week on the inclined bed), my sleep became deeply restorative, my silent GERD vanished. I do not cough and clear my throat any more, I do not snore any more. My sleep is deeply restorative. I do not get up twice in the night to go to the bathroom any more. I could swear my skin tone has improved.

Two of my friends have greatly improved cellulite on their thighs and varicose veins.

The nature of my urine has changed as well. I collect my a.m. urine to compost (we have a drought, and I read in a book written pre WWII that urine makes great nitrogenous composting material! ). Well it used to be much more dilute before. In the last few weeks, minerals have precipitated out and stuck to the sides and bottom of the urine jar. I should really measure the specific gravity to be more precise. But it appears that by sleeping in this position, you secrete more concentrated urine, with a lot more mineral density.

I wanted to thank Mr. Andrew Fletcher, evangelist of this simple idea for transforming my life.

I would like to know Earthling usa's results as IBT seems to be counter-intuitive to me as well ...

To cure acid reflux, take a flat teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda every 12 hours for 6 weeks. It will be gone!

Hello,

I have seen your very good site for IBT. I started therapy by placing support under my head bed side. Now can I also put hard wood plank sheet over my mattress under cotton bed sheet for extre benefits? Please reply,

Thanks, Manzoor

It seems so counter-intuitive that raising the head of the bed would improve circulation, etc. Since our organs are all in our upper body, I would think raising the foot of the bed would be more helpful.

However, I've done some reading on IBT and was impressed enough to decide to give it a try for a month or so, to see if I notice any benefits. I raised the head of my bed yesterday, so we'll see what the next month brings in terms of any noticeable benefits.

After using incline bed therapy (6 degrees), my blood pressure has gone down from 145 to 112. No more pills! Been on it for 6 months. Large varicose vein has gone down in size. I have twice the energy now and I my restless leg ordeal has gone away. I'm hooked for life.

In response to Saba from who wrote:

Question: About INCLINE BED THERAPY isn't it the same thing as what sleeping on pillows does? Will I have the same effect if I sleep on a firm pillow that is 6inches higher rather than having to raise my bed? Thank you if anyone has any answer

Saba, using a firm pillow will only bend your neck and raise your head. The rest of the body remains prone/flat. Inclining your entire bed by raising it at the head makes the entire body inclined. The feet are lower than the heart, the stomach is lower than the throat, etc. This is what gives you all the benefits being discussed here. I have been sleeping on an inclined bed since 6 months now, and my heart burn / acid reflux is gone! I was prescribed this by a gasteroenterologist as against acidity regulating tabs/syrups.

So the incline is at the head? I thought for edema , it was supposed to be legs above heart, which I have tried and that doesn't work. Also with such a small bedroom, the incline at the head will look nicer than at the other end!

I have been experiencing the same problem with dreams. Could you plz tell what kind of mask you are using? Thnx

Yay. After reading about Inclined Bed Therapy, my husband and I raised the top (head) of our bed by six inches last week as we'd heard there were multiple health benefits with doing this. We bought new, taller bed legs but others have used bricks, books and planks of wood. So I can report back after 10 days:

- I don't get heartburn at night anymore (not to say I don't still have a hernia or reflux, but I just never suffer from heartburn at nighttime)

- My husband's loud snoring has greatly improved (now a gentle murmur).

Others have reported improvement to varicose veins (meant to take 4 weeks: I'm waiting! ), deeper sleeps, more vivid dreams, fixing their backs, fixing their oedema (swollen feet/ankles) and less up and downing to the toilet.

Hope this helps, it's such a simple solution!

Thank you, I will try that.

Mario, you can try sleeping one or two nights without the pillows and see what happens. When I first started putting the bed on an incline, I was afraid of swelled ankles. But to my surprise, the swelling went down - totally counterintuitive - whereas in the past, only putting the feet up a wall while lying flat, got the swelling down.

I have been sleeping in a incline bed for few mounts , so far good improvement, back pain, gone acid reflux better, sleep apnea much better snore gone. The problem is I also have leg pain and to relieve that, I need to put pillows under my legs. I hear that may causes problem later on. Need some opinion, please.

Good Morning from Ireland. Last february(2012) I found that my left Calf muscle was starting to look roaring red and purple and I won't mention the pain and itchiness. I had heard years ago about elevating your feet in order to aid the return of blood to the torso. I googled this to make sure that it was what I needed and I came across your site and read and re-read the IBT to make sure I had it right so I said i'd give it a try and said i'd log my progress and gave it a trial of a calender month.

The first couple of nights I didn't sleep all that well as my body wasn't used to the position BUT during those couple of days I wasn't tired and had noticed that my calf condition was improved. But by week three I abandoned the trial and decided that the IBT was the way forward for me. It has given me Comfort for my calves and a brilliant nights sleep. So i'd just like to say thank you for your information and wish everyone would give this a try. Martin

My Wife and I started Incline Bed Therapy a about a week ago and both notice we are sleeping better through the night, less snoring (we both used to wake each other up with loud snoring) less back pain, we waking up feeling more energetic and with a generaly better mood than before. We used 4 inch wooden bed lifters. Steve

Did you read the post for green tea as an excellent way to keep the swollen ankles at bay?Im sure it was on this site. It took about six cups a day.

It's been about a year since I have raised my bed headboard about an inch or an inch and a half. I had read about Inclined Bed Therapy here and on Andrew Fletcher's site and figured a small lift won't hurt.

Well, I'm happy to report that even now in the HOT summer days, when my feet tend to swell, they are "drained" to normal by morning. Previously I would put them up by the wall, forming an L while laying on my back. Last night my feet were so swollen, I was sure I would have to do that, but wanted to "test" out the IBT on such swelling, and I am happy to report that this morning the swelling was gone!

So even a small incline does do something good!