SLEEPING HABITS CAN GIVE AND ALSO TAKE AWAY BACK PAIN

Sleeping is a prime need. The power of restorative rest is strong and wide reaching. Symptoms of diseases like fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, chronic fatigue and flu are decreased while we sleep. But did you know that improper sleep can be a cause of pain and suffering? Poor sleeping posture is the reason for this.

We all rest in various sleeping postures for five to eight hours every day! This entails 25-33 per cent of an average day or one fourth of our life time. Certain sleeping postures increase the tendency to a sway back while others give rise to neck pain.

We usually blame the mattress or the pillow for the pain and the stiffness. Let’s review the most common sleeping positions, why they are harmful and how can we correct them to help the body.

Sleeping on the belly

Sleeping on the belly can never be symmetrical as the head has to turn to one side or the other and this pressurises the neck. Even the lower back can get extremely curved as it sags into the mattress. It lets the lower back sink far inward and causes too much pressure on the back.

This creates unbalanced muscles, wherein one side is hypertonic (contracted) and the other is hypotonic (extended). This leads to neck strain, cramping, pain, tingling sensation in arms and headaches.

To sleep on the belly, follow these precautions:

• Place a rolled up towel or a small pillow under the abdomen to prevent the sagging of the lower back.

• One knee can be bent towards the chest.

• The pillow below the head should be as flat as possible so that the neck does not get arched or twisted to one side.
Begin to change the habit of sleeping on the stomach by starting off lying on your side or the back. Relaxing for a while in these positions, before turning to sleep on the belly, will gradually build in the new healthier habit. This position has to go.

Sleeping on the back

This places less pressure on the back than sleeping on the stomach. As the weight gets evenly distributed across the widest surface of the body, this minimises pressure points and ensures proper alignment of the internal organs.

If you are lying on your back and your legs are straight, then there is insufficient support for the lower back allowing it to arch too high. This can aggravate backache especially in people with increased lower back curvature and stiff hips.

If you sleep on your back with one leg bent, then you probably experience the same hip, lower back and/or knee pain as do the stomach sleepers who sleep in this way. Add a medium firm pillow under your knees and lower legs for a relaxed back. This support stretches the back and reduces the curvature.

Sleeping on the side

Side sleeping gets the votes for best sleeping position, if done correctly. Errors in side sleeping occur when one leg overlaps the other. The top leg is folded more than the lower one with the body getting twisted on the waist — the top hip trying to race with the lower hip! As the middle back gets suspended between the hips and shoulders, the broadest parts of the trunk, it can lead to tightness and pain in the low back and knees.

Then, side sleeping with hands under or over the head and scrunching the pillow so that the head is elevated can lead to neck and shoulder pain, stiffness, headaches, tingly or numbness in the arms or hands.

Side sleeping is the best because it allows the body to maintain a proper and corrective posture for several hours. What should be done is to place a pillow between the knees to create proper distance between them, thus keeping the hips in proper balance.

The legs must be parallel, so the hips remain square and there is no strain on the low back. A pillow should be placed under the head and pulled to the shoulder for optimal neck support. The hands should be parallel and below the eyes.

Placing a pillow between your knees and legs to keep hips, pelvis and spine aligned, helps a lot as this takes off the pressure from the lower hip and also keeps the pelvis vertical. This maintains the curve of the spine and alleviates any pressure or stretching.

Keep alternating the side to prevent muscular imbalance between the two sides of the body — left and the right. Who knew there was so much to sleeping posture? If these corrections are given a try, after a while the daily neck strain, shoulder pain, headaches, hip and low back pain and arm tingling may just start to correct itself.