There is a remarkable reason why most Asians like the Japanese and Korean prefer to sleep on the floor using thin matrass instead of on fancy bed. It is not only because it is practical like the Japanese’ obsession toward simplicity lifestyle but there are amazing health benefits of laying on the floor that most people from around the world don’t know. The Asian believe there are a lot of benefits of sleeping on the floor because it will give more energy to your body because it closer to the earth. It is not just a superstition but already supported by scientific researches.
Health Benefits of Laying on the Floor
The problem is for those who are not accustomed to sleep on the floor may find it quite strange. It is true that when you are accustomed to sleep in wide, warm, soft, fluffy bed, sleeping on the floor with thin matrass will surely give you back pain. However, giving yourself some time a day to just lying on the floor is actually offering you a lot of health benefits.
- Good for Your Spine or Backbone
When you are sleeping in bed especially a soft and fluffy bed, without you realize it your spine or backbone will form a curve that could be bad for your spine in long term. That is why spending some time on the floor is good for your spine. Moreover spine is the where your nervous system is, so maintaining it will help you maintaining your nervous system and also your brain.
- Keep Your Shoulder Blade Firm
Try to do it yourself and you will find out how relax your shoulder will be. When you are lying on the floor, your body will be forced to adjust to the floor condition which is hard and straight. Without you know it, your shoulder anatomy will follow suit. Doing it regularly could help you keeping your shoulder blade firm.
- Great for Your Neck
When you need to see your phone, you need to bend down. When you need to type in your computer keyboard, you need to bend down. Even housewives should chop the onions bending down. It is a total burden for your neck. Lying on the floor will force your neck to see straight to the ceiling. It is a really great exercise for your neck similar to the sleeping without a pillow benefits.
- Maintains Body Posture
From the previous points you could see how great lying on the floor for your body posture is. Great body posture means when you have healthy spine or backbone with straight neck and firm shoulder blade. Just do lying on the floor could do such wonders.
- Relieves Your Headache
There are a lot of factors that cause headache. Though some of them could be really a bad sign but if the headache is just occurring occasionally when you feel stressful or lack of sleep, then it is still normal. Minimizing the using of pain killer is highly recommended instead you could lie on the floor to help you relieving the headache. It is the most natural way to deal with light headache or migraine.
- Instant Solution to Bloating
Though further studies are required about the relation but some people have proven lying on the floor could be an instant solution to bloating. Though of course you need to find out the main cause of the bloating but lying on the floor could help you reducing the symptoms.
- Balances Blood Flow
From the point number five, one of the main factors that may cause headache is when head is not getting enough oxygen because blood cannot flow optimally. The main function of blood is not only bringing nutrition but also oxygen. When you lie on the floor could help your body balancing the blood flow. That’s why it could be an instant solution to headache.
- Calming Your Mind
There must be a good reason why most mental therapies are asking their patients to lie on the couch during consultation. It is because lying could help you calming your mind. Whenever you feel stressful, why don’t you just lying on the floor and get yourself calmed. You must be surprised how effective this simple movement is for your mind. It is like the benefits of exercise for emotional health.
- Relaxing Your Body
Not only for your mind, lying on the floor could be beneficial for your body as well. After a very long day at work, the first thing that crosses your mind is probably shower and bed. Well, you could add one more ritual to help you relaxing your body; it is lying on the floor. When it comes to you to go to bed, you could enjoy the health benefits of deep sleep completely.
- Simple Yoga
There are a lot of health benefits of yoga for human health but if you are not so into yoga, you don’t need to do that. However, you should know that lying on the floor is also one of the movements in yoga and that’s why it is a simple yoga that you could do even without certified yoga instructor beside you. Just like yoga, lying on the floor could calm your mind, relax your body and at the same time great for your body posture.
Side Effect of Laying on the Floor
Though there are some remarkable health benefits of laying on the floor, still there are some side effect you should aware especially for those who are not accustomed to do it.
- As mentioned above, don’t force yourself to sleep on the floor if it is not part of your daily habit. Instead of getting all the health benefits, you will get immediate back pain.
- Laying or sleeping on the floor could be really cold. Most Japanese and Korean who are sleeping on the floor may have flooring heating system in their house to keep them warm. Instead, when using bed that heating system is only going to waste, that’s why they prefer to sleep on the floor to be warmed.
- Before you decided to lie on the floor, you have to make sure the floor to be hygienic and clean enough for you to lie down.
From the list health benefits of laying on the floor mentioned above, some of you may be surprised that to deal with certain conditions are as simple as just lying on the floor. Though of course you cannot just depend on it to expect optimal result if what you need is a complete treatment or medication from a professional. However, giving yourself some time to just lying on the floor while enjoying the view above you is also a relaxing way to calm your mind, body and soul.