Elon Musk is more commonly associated with rockets, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence than health advice. Yet the billionaire has offered X users an unconventional tip for dealing with nighttime digestive problems.
The SpaceX chief said he sleeps with books stacked beneath his head, claiming the arrangement helps digestion and prevents stomach acid from flowing back upward.
Responding to people who experience acid reflux at night, Musk suggested placing several books beneath the head end of the bed frame to create a gradual incline.
“The whole bed should have a slight downward tilt towards your feet,” he wrote, describing the setup he believes can ease nighttime symptoms.
But can raising the head of the bed with a stack of books really make a difference to acid reflux?
While Musk’s approach may sound unusual, medical research suggests there is some scientific reasoning behind elevating the upper part of the bed.
Elon Musk told X users that sleeping with books beneath his head “helps with digestion” and limits the backflow of stomach acid
Musk’s unusual sleep advice may have a scientific basis, with research supporting bed elevation for some people with nighttime acid reflux
This is not the first occasion on which Musk has turned to social media to share unsolicited advice about managing acid reflux and improving sleep.
In an earlier post, he advised people to raise the head of their bed by roughly three inches, or 5cm, and to stop eating at least three hours before going to sleep.
He also told YouTuber MrBeast that there was a “good chance” he was experiencing at least mild nighttime acid reflux, potentially affecting his sleep without him realizing it.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease, commonly called GERD, acid reflux or heartburn, occurs when stomach acid travels back into the oesophagus. The result can be a painful burning feeling in the chest.
A small muscle known as the lower oesophageal sphincter normally helps keep stomach contents where they belong. However, the muscle is weak in as many as one in five adults, allowing acid to rise at inappropriate times.
Nighttime heartburn is particularly common because lying flat removes the assistance of gravity and can make it easier for stomach acid to move toward the throat.
Eating close to bedtime may intensify the problem. Food prompts the stomach to produce more acid as part of the digestive process, leaving more contents available to flow back while a person is lying down.
For that reason, many medical professionals recommend avoiding meals late at night and elevating the head of the bed rather than simply adding extra pillows.
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Dr Loai Albarqouni, Associate Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine at Bond University, told the Daily Mail that raising the head of the bed above the stomach allows gravity to help prevent stomach contents from returning to the oesophagus during sleep.
“Studies also found that it can reduce the amount of acid exposure in the oesophagus overnight,” he said.
Elon Musk said lifting the head of the bed by a few inches may help reduce nighttime acid reflux symptoms
In one 2012 study, researchers placed 7.8-inch (20cm) wooden blocks beneath the head of participants’ beds. They then asked the volunteers about their sleep and used oesophageal pH tests to measure physical changes linked to acid exposure.
The researchers found that 65 per cent of participants reported improved sleep, while the number of prolonged acid reflux episodes fell from more than three per night to an average of one.
Likewise, a 2021 review of five trials involving 228 patients concluded that elevating the head of the bed was a ‘cheap, safe alternative to drugs’ for those suffering from GERD.
Dr Albarqouni says: ‘Based on the available evidence, head-of-bed elevation appears to be a simple, inexpensive and relatively safe option that people with mild reflux symptoms could consider trying.
‘The evidence base is still relatively small, but we found evidence of benefit and no evidence of harm that would outweigh the potential advantages’
However, anyone keen to follow Mr Musk’s advice should be aware that there are some drawbacks.
The first is that some studies have shown only limited improvements to GERD symptoms and overall sleep quality.
One study, published in 2020, researchers had 39 patients who were being medically treated for acid reflux sleep in beds elevated by 7.8 inches (20cm) for six weeks.
While they found that the symptoms of acid reflux improved, the researchers found no effect on overall quality of life.
Additionally, over half of the patients reported some sort of adverse reaction to sleeping with their head elevated.
Those effects included sliding out of bed, swelling in the feet and ankles due to venous insufficiency, neck or lower back pain, and even ‘sexual problems associated with the tilting of the bed’.
For a quarter of participants, these effects were so severe that they had to stop elevating their bed as a result, despite improvements to their symptoms.
The researchers wrote: ‘The unexpectedly high percentage of adverse effects casts doubt on whether the net risk–benefit balance for the patient is favourable, and additional studies may be necessary in order to find the least degree of bed tilting that still maintains a therapeutic effect, while minimising the adverse effects of this non–pharmacological therapy.’