After taking a medicine, we hope that it will act quickly and effectively. But our posture may play a big role in how quickly the drug starts working, according to a recent study.
The best way to get a pill to work fast is to lie on your right side while you take it, which causes the pill to fall near the bottom of your stomach. This will help your body absorb the drug faster, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University.
On the other hand, when you lie on your left side, the pill lands in the upper part of the stomach. This can delay absorption for up to an hour.
The results were published in Physics of Fluids, a journal of the American Institute of Physics.
In a summary of the findings, lead author Rajat Mittal, a Johns Hopkins engineer and expert in fluid dynamics, says:
“We were very surprised that posture had such an immense effect on the rate of dissolving a pill. I never wondered if I was doing it right or wrong, but now I will definitely think regarding it every time I take a pill.
As part of the study, the researchers developed a model they named StomachSim. Using a combination of physics, biomechanics and fluid mechanics, the researchers discovered the differences in absorption rates between four different postures when taking the pill.
Taking pills while lying on the right side achieved a 2.3 times faster dissolution rate than standing. For example, if it took 10 minutes for a tablet to dissolve when lying on its right side, it may take 23 minutes when taken upright.
Taking a pill while lying on your back achieved much the same result as taking a pill in an upright position.
However, taking a pill while lying on your left side gave the worst result, with absorption taking over 100 minutes.
The study authors note that when a pill lands lower in the stomach, it dissolves faster and empties its contents into the duodenum, which is the initial part of the small intestine. This is essential because most pills don’t start working until they reach the gut.
As Mittal says:
“For the elderly, sedentary or bedridden, whether they turn left or right can have a huge impact. »
