[Ansteorra] Sleeping sitting up vs lying down

[Lisa Sawyer]

Yes, it does, I guess...I knew that the height issue was a combination of
nutrition and evolution, but evolution is verrry slow. I work for a Japanese
company so I am very familiar with the idea that better nutrition is
resulting in taller/bigger people over there. I have noticed that those that
embrace the "American" lifestyle tend to be younger and larger and than
the traditionalists who tend to be smaller...again anecdotal but still an
observation.

I still don't think the guy was completely accurate when he said that
"everyone" slept sitting up. It is possible that the beds were shorter just
because it was a barracks but the room they were shown in was very big and
they could have easily stacked two more bunks on top to make it a four high
bunk (but then there is the issue of climbing up). There was plenty of space
down the middle of the two rows to put a row of tables down the middle and
still have room to maneuver. The bunker wasn't used on a daily basis, just
in an emergency.

But now that I think about it, the fact that it was built during colonial
times might have an impact on the size of the bed because of the wood. I
remember touring a house in Salem that was built in the early 1600s. They
pointed out the table in the main living room (dated from around 1640+/-)
and said it was unique for its size. According to the "law", timbers/planks
that were bigger than a certain size had to be sent back to England (because
there was a shortage?). This table was barely under that size. Going from
memory, it was about 5 feet long and 18 inches wide. If that was a
limitation, then constructing a simple bunk that is longer than 5 feet would
have been the issue, not whether they slept sitting up or down. Does that
make sense? I'm not sure about the impact in Europe but it could be a factor
there for some reason as well. I'm not a wood worker so someone else might
be able to answer that better.

Thank you everyone for a wonderful discussion!
Ysabeau


On 7/19/07, Klfrench1023 at aol.com <Klfrench1023 at aol.com> wrote:
>
> Darned laptop.  What I was attempting to say is that sleeping in at  least
> a
> semi-reclined position reduces the workload of both the heart
> and  lungs.  No,
> it is certainly not the most comfortable way to sleep, as I can  attest to
> personally.  But for heart and lung patients, sometimes there is  no
> choice.
> For patients with reflux disorder, sleeping at an angle helps  to keep
> stomach
> contents where they belong, too.  Lying flat is quite  difficult and
> painful
> for people with GERD, and doctors recommend a  semi-reclined position to
> take
> pressure off of the LES (Lower Esophageal  Sphincter).  There may be other
> health reasons, but these are the major  ones that come to mind.  Everyone
> got off
> on the question of height--does  this answer your original question?
>
> M. Caterina
>
>
>
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