No standing: A hamam in Istanbul
Lying down is also important in the ritualized world of the hamam, or Turkish bath. There, after stretching and undergoing a massage and thorough scrubbing, the visitor enjoys a lengthy rest on a warm stone slab. This relaxation period is no mere luxury, for the hamam treatment, which removes the upper layer of the skin and loosens the muscles, can be draining or even painful. In some Muslim countries, this type of bath continues to be a social institution for people to relax and recharge.
Finding oneself in a horizontal position with nothing solid underneath sounds like a nightmare, yet it happens all the time. Swimmers lie on or just below the waterline: the buoyancy of the water counteracts their mass, an effect that is strongest in water with a high salt content. But it remains to be seen if a horizontal shower recently touted by a Swiss manufacturer will catch on. Bathers can use this shower while lying on the stomach or on the back. The Guardian was not impressed, however, dismissing the device as “an absurd contraption,” “sheer stupidity,” and “the worst invention ever.” The idea that in the future, showering could force the British nation to “writhe helplessly like beached seals on a platter of dead skin cells and tepid body fluids” filled the editorialist with dread.
Floating like an embryo: Dittman’s patented rocking basin
How can we distinguish lying down from other horizontal states? Floating, for example? Roland Barthes once described floating as living “in a space without tying oneself to a place.” Whether we float thanks to the absence of gravity or to the presence of intoxication, the sensation itself is always very real. And whether we are in water or in the air, floating requires neither a direction nor a destination. This very lack of purpose underlies its use as a therapeutic treatment; adherents believe that suspension in a salt-water bath kept at body temperature brings profound relaxation, even happiness.
Hard fact: Horizontal stiffening under hypnosis
Another form of floating may look like lying down to outside observers but is the result of a more mysterious process. Under hypnosis, people can take on a stiff horizontal posture. In this state, the subject appears to lie comfortably like a board across the backs of two chairs. The sight of someone in such an unusual position raises many questions: Why doesn’t the body bend without a solid surface beneath it to hold it up? What does the reclining subject feel? Does he sense a force supporting him, or are his thoughts somewhere else entirely? The situation is analogous to astronauts drifting horizontally in space: while it looks as if they are reclining, the absence of any resistance to their bodies means that lying down is technically impossible. Once again, we encounter the paradox where splaying out in a horizontal position does not automatically equal lying down.
Lying Down in the Great Outdoors
Certain outdoor spots practically cry out for us to lie down on them: a lawn, a beach, or a warm rock, especially when it’s been warmed by the sun. Outside, no ceiling limits our gaze, which can lose itself in the azure sky or in the movements and shifting forms of the clouds. Our view seems infinite, though depends on the positions of our bodies, whether we are lying on our backs, our sides, or our stomachs. If it’s the latter, we look just over the tips of the grass and can only imagine the sky.
It’s not just the lack of a boundary above us that makes lying down outside completely different from lying down in an interior space. Outside, we are subject to a wealth of sensory impressions: bright light, wind, the chirping of birds, the scent of flowers, the rushing of water, the sometimes pleasant and sometimes disturbing sounds of people and machines, approaching footsteps, a distant call suddenly breaking the silence. On the beach, we can hear how the rhythm of the waves breaks time into small, regular intervals. Even if no one else is nearby, we aren’t alone. Everything, alive or inanimate, reaches us and may even speak to us if we are willing to listen. When we lie down in a landscape, it becomes as much a part of us as we become a part of it.
Sky gazing expands the soul
Lounging outdoors can have a private or public character depending on whether we are on a property shielded from others’ view or a beach accessible to anyone. A legendary German beer commercial shows a man in the dunes who lets himself fall into the sand and then stretches out his arms and legs—the ultimate expression of relaxation and freedom. Those without their own yards or nearby coasts have to make do with parks. Alternatively, a field can offer a good spot to enjoy nature from a horizontal perspective, as well as protection from prying eyes.
On a hot summer night, when the air seems to hang motionless in the bedroom, the temptation to flee outside with a mattress and sheet can be overwhelming. The reward would be a fresh breeze, a chance to see the stars, and perhaps a concert of birds as a wake-up call the next morning. Such an experience can be idyllic, but we should refrain from infusing the scene with an overly romantic glow. If you have ever tried to sleep outside, you know how irritating the unfamiliar sounds can be. The background noises are too different from the familiar acoustic backdrops in our bedroom. And something startling is always bound to happen outside. Once we enter shallow sleep, a relatively loud noise is sure to wake us up, even in the middle of the night. Some people claim that we hear better in the darkness, perhaps because humans harbor a faculty from an earlier phase of development, though our improved hearing in the darkness also reminds us of our vulnerability to danger when we are outside. In fact, we never seem to get used to this danger. Spending nights outdoors has been shown to produce heightened alertness in the homeless who sleep on city streets. It not only disturbs their sleep but also negatively affects their health.
Even if you don’t have your own yard, you can still sleep outdoors
Caution is especially called for in forests. There, blossoms may send out intense or even upsetting scents; creatures large and small may flutter around us or peer at us out of the darkness; and the ground may be damp and spongy. Nothing about it encourages a good night’s sleep, despite the fact that our forests today are hardly the haunts of ghosts, witches, and dangerous beasts they were believed to be in the past. And although these dangerous spaces have been largely tamed, those who spend the night in a forest—or even just a wooded park—are viewed with suspicion. In the 1860s, those found spending the night in Berlin’s famous Tiergarten park were automatically classified as “vagabonds” and “criminals,” even if they had broken no other law.
Clouds offer the most comfortable repose
In short, we might want to think twice before lying down or sleeping in the great outdoors.
Sun Worshippers
From a historical and cultural perspective, the present-day habit of lying out in the sun is quirky, to say the least. For centuries, a tan was a mark of poverty, the curse of those damned to work in the fields day after day. In the eyes of the more refined, sun-browned skin indicated a lack of cultivation. Many developments had to come together before a tan became a sign of beauty. A sun cult evolved slowly, arguing that enjoyment of the sun of went hand in hand with an appreciation of outdoor movement and exercise. The German author and mathematician Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799), known for his aphorisms, declared that sunshine was “the primary means to promote health and vitality.” He recommended sunbathing naked and once recorded his own experience of turning “nearly black” in the ocean air. Another early fan of tanning was Arnold Rikli (1823–1906). A Swiss proponent of natural medicine, he had the habit—horrifying to many of his contemporaries—of lying naked in the sun. Rikli opened the first therapeutic sunbathing facility in Slovenia in 1854. He showed that sunbathing could influence one’s sense of well-being, and he increased the awareness and popularity of this practice like no one before him. History knows him as the sun doctor. In an age before anyone guessed that spending long periods in the sun could lead to skin cancer, tanning was an innocent pleasure.
The Proper Way to Lie Down
“The resting place should neither be completely horizontal nor excessively sloped,”
writes Isidor Poeche in his 1901 book Sleep and the Bedroom, which bears the unwieldy subtitle A Hygienic-Dietetic Handbook as a Guide to Achieving Natural and Regenerating Sleep. According to Poeche, a full horizontal position brings the risk of stroke, “especially for those with a short neck and a head that sits low, wedged between the shoulders.” The reason, he argues, is that “lying completely flat facilitates the flow of blood to the brain, which is already stronger in sleep than during our waking hours.” On the other hand, if the bed is too slanted, “the inconvenience easily arises that the body, which makes no intentional movements during sleep, follows the physical laws of gravity like any other lifeless mass; in other words, it tends to fall toward the center of the earth so that, instead of sleeping on the straw, one can awaken on the naked ground.”
As if unaware that we cannot control our movements during sleep, Poeche warns that “neither sleeping on the back nor on the stomach is healthy, but rather damaging.” He also connects sleeping in a supine position with unpleasant dreams. The upshot is that “one should sleep on one’s side, specifically the right.” The ideal posture is
somewhat curled, free of any force or pressure, in a position that allows our muscles and limbs to fully relax. A completely straight position produces as much tension as a tightly curled one, and because both variants involve effort, they prevent us from completely achieving the purpose of sleep. The feet, abdomen, and chest must be horizontal, but the head must lie approximately a half-foot higher.
Actually, none of the typical sleeping positions can be considered unhealthy; even sleeping on the stomach impedes breathing only minimally. However, it is true that slightly raising the upper body can help those who suffer from respiratory problems, such as sleep apnea, to breathe more freely. In more severe cases, sufferers must turn to technical devices that support their breathing.
Today, research has provided us with a far more detailed understanding of sleep than Isidor Poeche could boast. Just the study of the movements people make while sleeping constitutes a field of research. We now know that changes in position usually occur during phases of shallow sleep and directly influence how refreshing we find a bout of slumber to be. If our motor functions are affected during sleep or we lie in the “wrong” position, we can wake up feeling exhausted. In any case, it’s normal to move about while sleeping; a healthy sleeper with full motor abilities changes position up to one hundred times a night. These movements follow an individual rhythm—a unique nocturnal choreography, if you will.
No consensus exists among doctors about which is better: a certain amount of activity during sleep beyond the normal level or the greatest possible relaxation. One factor in favor of relaxation is that it leads to less tension-related pain.
If sleep researchers are correct, more than half of us sleep primarily on our sides. Older people tend to sleep in this position. However, lying on the left side can be uncomfortable for those with heart conditions. As we age, sleeping on our backs leads to an increase in snoring. If a snorer consistently wakes up in flagrante delicto to turn on his or her side, the response can eventually become unconscious.
Sleeping on the stomach requires a high level of flexibility in the neck, a flexibility that tends to diminish with age. “In a prone position, the head must be turned to the side, leading to problems for those with limited mobility,” says Thomas Laser, a noted German orthopedist. “One wakes up due to neck pain and, as a result, tries to avoid lying on one’s stomach.” Moreover, eating too much right before bedtime presents issues for prone sleepers because, as Dr. Laser explains, “pressure on the abdominal area can cause heartburn and belching if we sleep facing downward.”
Whether we are asleep or awake, a mysterious impulse can suddenly signal that it’s time to change positions. What triggers this need to move? The most important factor is the pressure that a particular position exerts on certain parts of the body. Gravity and one’s weight compress the body at the points where it contacts the surface below. If we’re on our backs, we feel the pressure most in the shoulder blades, pelvis, and heels, whereas if we’re on our sides, the pressure is more apparent in the shoulder and elbow joints, the outside of the hip, and the knee. The pressure is most evenly distributed when we sleep on the stomach or on the back, because these positions maximize the area resting on the underlying surface. If part of the body is subjected to significant pressure over a long period, blood circulates there less freely. The resulting lack of oxygen creates an unpleasant sensation, causing us to correct the imbalance by changing position. This biomechanical response is not under our rational control. Without this regular release, the compressed soft tissues would develop serious circulatory problems that could, in severe cases, lead to bedsores. Sleepers are at risk of these consequences if the number of spontaneous movements they make drops to three or fewer per hour. The sleeping body also tends to seek a position in which the arm and leg joints are centered, allowing the opposing muscles to relax. It’s easier to find this balance when we lie on our sides. We can get a better sense of the physiological need to change position by consciously resisting it for a few moments, so that we feel how the affected part of the body “falls asleep.”
By letting the feet fall slightly outward and turning the palms of the hands up, a supine yogi brings the spine into a naturally comfortable position. This relaxation spreads throughout the entire body, and the shoulder blades drop to the ground. Although yoga practitioners call this position savasana—the corpse pose—they rarely give a thought to the name’s macabre connotations.
In most cases, we end up sleeping in whatever position is most comfortable. The postures we assume while sleeping are not under our conscious control, but they aren’t random either. If we pay attention to the body, we can sense our own patterns of movement. These factors, in addition to pressure points and spatial orientation, also play a role in whether we feel comfortable. Sometimes it feels pleasanter if the thighs touch each other, while at other times we avoid this contact and the friction it produces. Or we pull a blanket over our heads to ward off a draft or the cold but then have a need for fresh air.
For some people, the act of lying down brings a highly attuned consciousness of the dimensions of their bodies or even of their very selves. The German writer Hermann Broch vividly describes this process in his celebrated novel The Death of Virgil:
He rolled on his side, his legs drawn up a little, his head resting on the pillow, the hip pressed into the mattress, the knees disposed one above the other like two beings alien to him and very far off in the distance reposed the ankles and the heels as well. How often, oh, how often in the past had he been intent on the phenomenon of lying down! Yes, it was absolutely shameful that he could not rid himself of this childish habit! He recalled distinctly the very night when he—an eight-year-old—had become conscious that there was something noteworthy in the mere act of reclining.
Position as the Key to Personality
Not only have attempts been made to draw conclusions about people’s personalities from the way they sleep, but entire typologies have been drawn up. According to one popular tabloid paper, the sourpuss sleeps on his stomach with his arms slightly bent over his head, so that his fingers are spread like the toes of a frog. In this analysis, such bed frogs are burdened with problems and rarely willing to take the advice of others. Manager types, on the other hand, lie on their backs and require lots of room for their arms and legs. The obvious conclusion is that such an individual is used to being in charge and giving orders. Shy people are said to sleep on their side, with their legs drawn up, in a position that resembles an embryo in the womb; rolled into a ball, they stubbornly wait for their personalities to unfold.
Fortunate souls free of all angst sleep completely relaxed on their side, and self-confident people supposedly toss and turn less while sleeping. Such theories emerge in the gray area between serious science and pop psychology. Chris Idzikowski, from the Edinburgh Sleep Centre and Advisory Service, claims that the wide
spread fetal position—sleeping on the side while pulling up the legs—indicates a hard shell and a sensitive core. When meeting a stranger, such a person first seems reserved but then warms up quickly. In contrast, those who lie on their backs with their arms at their sides in the soldier position are quiet, reserved, and known for their strong principles. Yearners, on the other hand, sleep on their side and stretch out their arms in front of them. Idzikowski claims that this position indicates distrust, and that once such a person has made up his or her mind it is unlikely to change. Lying on your side with your arms against your body is the sign of the typical log sleeper, an easygoing but gullible character.
Things look quite different for free-fall sleepers, who lie on the stomach and hug their pillows. They are nervous and thin-skinned. But be warned from diagnosing your fellow man or woman on the basis of such evidence. No empirical proof of these connections exists, and serious researchers refrain from such speculations.
So Easy a Child Can Do It
The subject of children and lying down has long been a playground for heavy-handed theorists. The famous anatomist Andreas Vesalius, who was also the court physician for Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, voiced a most remarkable hypothesis. The otherwise highly regarded Vesalius suggested that the “typical” German head shape—flat at the back and thus relatively short—was due to the fact that German mothers placed their infants on their backs. Belgians, he further reasoned, had long heads because their mothers placed them on their sides. General wisdom cautioned against laying children in bed next to their mothers. The danger that they could be smothered was too great, and horrendous statistics show that these fears were well justified.
The Art of Lying Down Page 2
