How you sleep can make a difference in your day. I know with all the stuff out there on the importance of sleep, now we have to hear about the correct ways to sleep?
Sorry to tell you, there are optimal ways to sleep for pain vs. not optimal ways.
Do you sleep on your stomach? If you do, chances are you have one leg up and perhaps even both arms up.
Are you sleeping in fetal position with your legs curled up?
Let’s imagine in a perfect world we get 7-8 hours a night of uninterrupted sleep. Nice thought right? Even if you sleep for 3-4 hours a night, it’s the longest time your body is without movement. Not optimal for a pain free life.
Have you ever woken up with some aches and pains. Ever wonder why? Our bodies are in some of the worst postural positions while we sleep.
Let’s first look at the cervical spine.
Our necks are usually turned to one side or another if we sleep on our side or our belly. Depending on what type of pillow we use, our spine is in flexion and rotation for hours at a time without movement. Stiff neck? Again, not optimal for a pain free life.
Moving on down the spine, we have the thoracic and the lumbar regions. Back pain anyone?
Ever wake up and feel like your joints are creaking and your back is killing you? When we examine sleep positions, most side sleeper’s spine are in flexion and the vertebra are being compressed. Let’s look at sleeping on the belly (the worst position) and the effects on the body. The spine is usually in extension and because of neck turning to one side or leg up, there is a lot of rotation. The spine itself houses many nerves which controls our pain.
What’s the best position to sleep in? You guessed it, it’s to sleep on your back.
I am happy to say, I retrained my brain to sleep on my back. I am a back sleeper. I have less pain (due to scoliosis) and the best part is, it helps fight off wrinkles. Did I convince you yet?
I won’t lie, the struggle is real. I fought it, and had some restless, sleepless nights. The end result is I feel better and I will look better. That is a win-win for me.
If you aren’t willing to change your sleep position, here are some simple suggestions to help you wake refreshed and pain free.
Side Sleepers can place a pillow in between their knees to release any compression on the lumbar spine. You can also hug a pillow so that your shoulder stays elevated to avoid rotation and compression. Pillow height is relevant for all types of sleepers.
Keep the cervical in neutral. If the pillow is to high your cervical will be in flexion. Having all parts of your spine in alignment is optimal for pain free days.
Belly sleepers can sleep with a small pillow under their hips to keep the spine in alignment. Pillow height should be able to keep cervical in alignment too.
I hope this was informative for you. Please leave me a comment below and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter.
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MOVE BETTER, FEEL BETTER, AGE BETTER
Maria G. Lorenzo CPT, CGI, CPI, CPC, RYT