Why raise the bed six inches at the head end for Inclined Therapy?

An experiment was performed to determine the optimum angle for circulation.

Using a closed water filled loop of tubing with coloured salt solution added at the pillow end and the loop stretched down the bed, the bed was elevated.

The lower elevations in the range of 4-4.5 inches resulted in the salt flowing down one side and the clean water flowing back up the same side. 2 directional flow in one tube while fascinating to watch was not the desired effect.

After raising the bed to 5 inches the downward flow was in the salt added side representing the arteries and the return flow was in the opposite salt-free side representing the venous return or indeed the return flow of the cerebrospinal fluid system or the return flow of the lymphatic system.

this return flow and return is under tension and was observed using soft walled silicon tubing showing clearly how the solutes affect the pressure of the water molecules.

The downward flowing side clearly bulged outwards under the positive pressure induced by gravity, while the return flow water only side was pulled in, indicating that the molecules were placed under tension by the gravity affect on the salt dissolved in water.

Over time this has been born out by many people sleeping inclined, while a 4 inch incline is better than sleeping flat, a 6 inch / 15 cm raise producing a five degree to the horizontal on a 75 inch long bed.

Fascinating history of the bed reveals that the oldest beds know from the ancient Egyptians some 4 thousand years ago were raised by exactly 6 inches at the head end according to a curator of a museum in Boston. USA.

Question is how did they know? Did they observe animals sleeping on an incline and imitated them and then find the benefits? We will never know but it is intriguing.

Sunday Independent
Tilting Beds To Save Lives

EXCLUSIVE by MATT BAMSEY

A FORMER West Country engineer claims that his gravity invention will save thou­sands of lives and even alter our perception of evolution.
Andrew Fletcher, of Paignton, has been bat­tling for nine years to have his theory of grav­ity powered circulation recognised by the med­ical profession.
His studies, which have cost around £13,000, protest that rais­ing a person’s bed a few inches with blocks of wood or ordinary house bricks can guard against life-threatening ill­nesses.
The findings fly in the face of a widely-held consensus in the med­ical world which says patients’ legs should be raised in order to assist circulation and varicose veins.
But Mr Fletcher has been handed a major boost after Cambridge University included his findings on their science and plants for schools (SAPS) website which colleges use as part of their national curricu­lum.
Now the man, who has waged a relentless cam­paign to have his voice heard, says that he is on the brink of blowing the general understanding of science and medicine out of the water. ‘I am overjoyed and extremely grateful that my find­ings have been used on this site and it is an­other huge leap towards gaining full medical recognition for my dis­covery,’ he said. Theory ‘I am now hoping that schools will help to test my theory and its sim­ple tubular
experiments with water flowing up instead of down. ‘I can see light at the end of the tunnel.
MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGH: Andrew Fletcher, of Paignton, says that his novel bed design could save the NHS ‘a fortune’ as well as giving people a far better quality of life
This discovery will undoubtedly save countless thou­sands of lives and will even change our under­standing of the evolu­tionary process as it will show that Darwin’s nat­ural selection is not the primary driving force but, instead, gravity dic­tates and drives evolu­tion.’
Director of SAPS Paul Beaumont said: ‘He has some novel ways on how plants use gravity and we have alerted people to this resource.’
Mr Fletcher’s latest success is with a man from Brixham suffering from diabetes. Three years ago, the man was preparing to undergo laser eye surgery in an attempt to curb a long­standing sight problem. But having tilted the bed, the man’s sight im­proved to such an extent that he decided to scrap plans of going under the surgeon’s knife. ‘The results have been phenomenal,’ said Mr Fletcher. ‘I have helped thousands of people suf­fering from many condi­tions and when the med­ical profession recognises the full implications of this theory, it will literally save the NHS a fortune.’
His therapy system was developed after he discovered how gravity-driven circulation oc­curs within trees and subsequently applied the theory to the human body.
According to Mr Fletcher, even the an­cient Egyptians had in­clined beds, mirroring his now tried and tested five-degree angle.
matt.bamsey® sundayindependent.co.uk

Inclined Therapy in Womans Realm Magazine Psoriatic Arthritis

Keep your Head up!

March 3, 1998

How angling your bed can improve your health

Three years ago, if anyone had suggested to Penny Meredith that something as simple as propping up the head of her bed could radically improve her quality of life,

She wouldn’t have believed them. However, today 54-year-old Penny is a firm believer in the practice.

pain and stiffness grew worse,’ remembers Penny, who runs a guest house. ‘I took painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs which took the edge off the pain, but they upset my stomach, so I preferred to do without them if I could. Then, about eight years ago, my condition deteriorated considerably.

‘I also work as an auxiliary nurse, which can be quite physical, and it got to the point where I was so stiff, I thought I’d have to give

up. It was very depressing.’ Then, in October 1995, a visitor to Penny’s guest house told her about an inventor he’d met called Andrew Fletcher, who was achieving amazing improvements in people’s health, just by raising the head of their beds a few

inches. Penny contacted him and asked him to visit. He explained his theory by saying that, by lying flat, we’re not making use of gravity -the force that powers our vital bodily functions. By raising the head of the bed six inches, so that the entire body is tilted, the circulation and the metabolic rate are speeded up and fluid flows naturally through the body. Andrew had conducted _____ experiments involving about 300 people with various health problems, from varicose veins” to multiple sclerosis. In almost every case, sleeping at an angle improved their symptoms.

‘What Andrew was saying made sense to me,’ says Penny. That night I propped the head of my bed up with two house bricks. Next day, I had no pain at all and was able to move normally for the first time in years.’ Penny continues to be pain-free and mobile, and is so impressed by what angled sleep has done for her that she’s bought an angled bed, made by Oasis Concepts. ‘I won’t risk going back to the way I was,’ she says. ‘In fact, if I stay at someone else’s house I prop up the head of my bed with books or phone directories - anything to get that tilt!’ For more information and details of availability of angled beds, send a large sae to Andrew Fletcher, 26 Berry Drive, Paignton, Devon TQ 3 3QW.

We are seeking more people with varicose veins who are willing to put IBT to the test and feel that this is something that your readers and colleagues will definitely find fascinating and some who have varicose veins and oedema and wish to avoid surgery may want to Help in this important trial and join our Free study which has already produced positive results in only 4 weeks as predicted!

News Release:

An Important Scientific Study into the cause of Varicose Veins and Oedema and Inclined Bed Therapy (I.B.T.) is now underway, which makes use of the way the body uses gravity to move solutes through the vessels to improve circulation and alter the pressure inside the veins to significantly reduce swelling and oedema. Our study is free for anyone to participate in. There are no products to be sold or marketed.

What is Inclined Bed Therapy?

Gravity was identified as the driving force behind circulation in trees in 1994 and was applied immediately to how circulation in the body benefits from the same interaction with salts and sugars in the circulation. A video showing the use of IBT with spinal cord injury can be viewed here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3D7tBQfCxQ

IBT is simply tilting the bed so that the head end is 15 cm’s or 6 inches higher than the foot end providing a level but tilted bed, hence the name Inclined Bed Therapy.0 People with varicose veins, oedema (fluid retention) are needed to participate in an online Diary Study, in order to prove that simply altering our sleeping position can have a positive affect on these problems.

If you or someone you know has Varicose Veins, the standard advise is to raise your legs and tilt your bed the other way to IBT, Or to undergo risky and expensive surgery that is prone to fail because it does not address why the pressure inside the vein causes it to bulge.

Which according to current physiology books makes sense. But what if that logic is incorrect? All the evidence from our study is showing that gravity is not a force we are struggling to overcome but a force that drives the fluids within the body.

Are you prepared to take the 4 week challenge and provide us with your observations? Or do you know someone who has varicose veins and would like to watch them slowly but surely shrink and improve every night they go to bed instead of becoming more unsightly and uncomfortable?

Our study is located on the Naked Scientists forum, who have a regular slot on BBC Radio. http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=9843.msg121037#msg121037

My wife’s calf showing clearly her varicose vein shadow, which went flat after 4 weeks of Inclined Bed Therapy back in 1994 and has not returned to its former state since. http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=9843.msg121037#msg121037

Alun has already confirmed my statement on the study thread that Varicose veins will shrink after 4 weeks of IBT and has supplied us with photographic before and after 4 weeks of IBT along with a diary account of his observations. And he is not alone. http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=9843.75

More reading: http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=18961.0

We are hoping to find at least 50 more pioneering volunteers who wish to avoid surgery and it’s inherent risks and failures, who are willing to provide us with photographic and a written account of their own experiences sleeping inclined.

So far our study is running towards a predicted outcome that flies in the face of current physiology literature.

Photographic Evidence: Higher Resolution

1^st Photograph: Male 34 years. Varicose vein on calf muscle following 10 weeks of IBT.

2^nd Photograph: Same Male 34 years showing Varicose Vein on Calf Muscle 6 months of IBT

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/Andrew_K_Fletcher/Varicose%20veins/Calf10-weeksIBT.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/Andrew_K_Fletcher/Varicose%20veins/jan-2008-2-text.jpg

Look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely Andrew K Fletcher