It’s common nowadays for people to wake up with new aches and pain in the morning. It can be resulted from our sleeping position.
When we sleep, our body restores and repairs itself. Hence, a good sleeping position plays an important role to ensure we perform well when we’re awake the next day.
The importance of sleep position
A proper sleep position supports the natural curvature of our spine. It helps to relieve stress on our spine.
Are you a back sleeper?
Sleeping on your back is good to keep your spine and neck in alignment, which may reduce the odds of waking up in pain. Although the pressure is distributed evenly across both sides of your body during back sleeping, it comes with a few issues.
Ever notice that when you sleep on your back, you tend to cross your legs? If so, try lying on your back right now with your legs straight and uncrossed. After a minute or two, you’ll likely feel uneasy in your hips and lower back, and you will feel like crossing your legs instead of keeping it straight. This is because you have tight hamstrings or a tight lower back from sitting all day. And you instinctively cross your legs to increase back support. That’s okay for short while, but crossing your legs for 8 hours a night definitely pulls your hips and back out of shape.
What you can do > Place a firm thin pillow under your knees/thighs, keep your legs uncrossed with your toes pointed up. It’ll support your back and allow your hips to relax the whole night.
Are you a side sleeper?
Sleeping on your side is great, and you can make it even better with some adjustments on your neck, shoulders, and hips.
Support your neck and shoulders
Do you stuff your shoulder under your pillow when you side sleep? Or do you put your hand under your cheek when you sleep sideway? That’s due to lack of neck support.
Placing your hand below pillow often due to lack of neck support from pillow.
What you can do > Add a second pillow or change a new pillow to a height where your neck is neutral and in straight alignment with your spine. Or roll up a towel to fit in the curve of your neck while you side sleep. This will give support for your shoulder too.
Support your hips
When you sleep sideway, your top knee/hip will put pressure on your bottom knee/hip, causing hip and lower back tension. This may sound like a minor problem, but bear in mind that you’re putting the tension on your body 7/8 hours a night, every night. That’s like a third of your life. Those little misalignments will build over time, but if you address them now, you’ll keep your joints in great shape.
What you can do > Place one pillow between your knees/thighs while you sleep
Tips for better night sleep
- Stretch before sleep – Child’s pose is one of the great and simple way to stretch your spine, it calms your mind with gentle breathing, it reduces your anxiety and fatigue after a long day. If you have difficulty sitting on your heels, simply put a folded towel in between your knees.
- Keep your room cold at night ( around 68 degrees Fahrenheit or 20 degrees Celsius ) – Heat increase wakefulness at night and prevent you from reaching deeper stages of sleep
- Sleep in complete darkness – Lights from our electronics disturbs our melatonin production ( a hormone the promotes sleepiness in our body )
We hope you discover the best sleeping position for yourself, do let us know how we can assist you better for your condition.
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