The secret to getting better sleep tonight | James Leinhardt | TEDxManchester

There’s a seemingly endless series of articles all telling us to get more sleep and yet very few that give any direction on how to improve the quality of our sleep. James Leinhardt joined us to discuss the topic of “sleep posture”. Along with improving the quality of our sleep he asserted that better sleep posture brings a host of other benefits including better spine health, general wellbeing and reduction in neck and back pain. Ultimately better sleep posture will mean waking up rested and free of pain. Yes please! James Leinhardt is the founder and Chief Sleep Posture Expert of Levitex. He has a wealth of knowledge in nighttime postural care and has designed medical devices to manage the posture for people suffering with complex neurological illness and injury. He works with NHS trusts and social care throughout the UK and clients as far as the Middle East and Australia. Working with client groups such as catastrophic brain injury, MS, Cerebral Palsy and Stroke survivors, James feels a strong sense of purpose to care and improve the lives of patients in medical difficulty and the wider public.

[dianemccabe]

I have changed my life style! I excercise everyday, rain or shine, eat real food and have started to strength train and I'm 68! Most of my friends say they are not doing this. But I have had influence on some of them! My son's noticed that when I came to visit that they could not keep up with me and now they have both lost nearly 100 lbs. Each! They are in their 30's. They have made changes in their lives too! That makes me so happy cause I was really worried about them. Sometimes you gotta walk the walk and show them it can be done. I don't want them to die before I do.... When they see you change they think hey maybe I can make a change too! It really helps if you can all work on it together!!!

[ixaclee]

Save your time. Forward the video to 12:38

[fionajane]

Some harsh comments here ... I liked this talk and his offbeat sense of humour. I will take more care of my sleep posture in future. So a thumbs-up from me. 👍

[atombombplaylist]

I was about to go sleep. What a coincidence.

[DaveyNelson]

Sleep on your back or sleep on your side with a pillow between your legs and save yourself 15 minutes of babble. This could’ve been a tweet

[bluesman]

⁠​⁠​⁠Life changing! I was already sleeping in the dreamer position among others. So I decided to take the challenge and eliminated the other positions except the soldier to see what would happen. What happened was that the chronic lower back pain that I’ve been experiencing for years DRAMATICALLY improved literally overnight. Nothing I have ever done has helped me this much. Thank you so much for this!

[Liberteabelle]

I’ve been preaching sleep position to family, friends (and strangers if I see them in pain) for 30 years. I have been fine tuning my sleeping position over these years throughout the whole time. First to fix a numb arm, then lower right back pain, recent arthritic hand pain, etc. So I was SO PLEASED to see someone else taking this seriously! People need to pay attention- not just when they are old!

A couple of my findings:

* Yes the dreamer position works for me too, but I find I do not need a pillow between the knees as long as I keep my knees together.

* I keep a long thick pillow (like 12” depth) in front and back of me, pulled in tight next to me. In this way I can balance my arm along the top and not let it fall forward and pinch a nerve thus causing arm numbness. I have not had that problem recur in 30 years.

* Pushing the pillow up against my back is like sleeping on a couch - it gives you back support and keeps your spine straight. The reason I keep a pillow on either side is so I can easily flip over to the other side and keep the pillows lined up.

The pillow on either side also helped me TRAIN myself to stay in position while I was asleep. Yes! You CAN train yourself, I promise! You do not have to wake up in pain!

[ForNika]

Only when my Cats headbutt me I change from a twisted pretzel to soldier position and my neck stops hurting. Thank You for showing people what the corrupt money making industries don't want people to know.

[cleancutguy]

One important fact that James Leinhardt forgot to mention is your bed mattress matters. Soft mattresses will make you sink in and create back pain. What we need is a firm mattress

[kludgescraftsplus]

The biggest problem I have with any of these including the soldier, which I sleep in, is the inclusion of a pillow for back sleeping. If you were to look at the soldier with his neck on the pillow from the side you'd see his head was stretched upwards. This will cause pain. The back of the head should be on the same plane as the rest of the body. A small pillow should be placed under the neck to keep the head from falling from one side to the other and focus the gaze on the ceiling. The only safe way to use a typical pillow on your back is to scoot up until your shoulders are also on the pillow. This tapers the angle onto your back and away from your neck. I have a series of pillows that I have fabricated changing designs. The most recent version which I sleep with the most often, allows me to sleep on my back primarily but have a pillow for my head on both sides of short time I spend in dreamer. I have lower back issues and I have since I was a child slept on hard floor on my back was acting up to straighten things out. The best change to that ever was to get my head on the floor as well.

[JK_JK_JK_JK]

I like listening to ASMR videos on YouTube! 🥱

Its just basically people whispering in your ear! It helps relax me and make me sleep! 💤😴🛌🏻

[jentommyontheroad]

Yep! Been the dreamer on one side or the other since I had the first hip replacement in 2017 and now with a wedge pillow (for acid reflux) with a hole for my arm. I sleep great now! No more reflux and wake up feeling refreshed!

[kimberlytownsendpalmer]

I really liked this! I’ve had spine problems for decades & he’s unifying everything we know about our brain, pain, and sleep.

[halhansen]

The early days of Ted Talks were different. I read a story about them in Forbes, a bunch of academics sitting around the room, all talking about the best video presentations they ever saw, and they posted them. Instant viral, before the term was coined, and they decided they had to produce more content - so that’s what modern TED talk is. Not necessarily the best you’ve ever seen, but they need to generate 100 per year.

[stvinney]

As i get older i do find that the hardest part of sleeping is getting comfortable initially
Once im into a sleep cycle i could probably stay asleep standing on my head in a room that's too cold with no blankets. Ill wake up feeling like i broke something but i can sleep

[ElizabethHeywood-hkbo]

Carry on with the good work James, you really are making a difference 😊

[yousefangel]

I’m so glad i’ve been doing The Dreamer my whole life! no wonder i get 8 hours every night and never get insomnia

[mohammedirfanm]

This posture highly recommended by prophet Muhammad ages ago.
However I learnt today he was right.
Thanks ❤

[wadeneumann]

well, I tried it.. WOW! holy moly what a great sleep! Thanks James.

[ThOperator]

Some people are reporting that sleeping on the floor solved a lot of back, neck, .. pain.