As we move into an even faster paced society, with more work, more gadgets, and more going on, sleep takes a bit of a backseat. When you go to bed you need to fall asleep and sleep well to be ready for the next day.
Research shows that many of us are not necessarily getting a restful night’s sleep. You may think because you went to bed a 10 and got up at 6 or 7 you slept good. Not necessarily. Did you toss and turn for 20 minutes before you fell asleep? Did you wake up a couple times to boot? I’m not even mentioning tossing and turning again when you got up during the night.
I often talk about neck pain and how that will disturb your sleep, but lets say you’ve been reducing that pain but still aren’t sleeping great. This can often lead to pain. When you’re really bushed and have trouble just getting to sleep, if you’re in an awkward position or maybe have a less than satisfactory pillow, you may hurt your body instead of help it.
It’s no doubt waking up with neck pain and having trouble getting to sleep the next night because of pain is going to hinder sleep, but here’s some other things that can make it tough to sleep and therefore can boost your chances of waking up with a stiff neck:
- Doing computer work right before bed – one problem is a mind that’s too active right before sleep. Put things away and try to wind down.
- Eating too close to bed time – Your body should be in rest mode, it shouldn’t be focusing all its efforts on breaking down foods…
- Drinking alcohol close to bed – you think it relaxes you because it’s a depressant. You may fall asleep better, but that does’t mean it’ll be a restful one.
- Is you room optimized for sleep. So many, I find, have electrostatic rays all around from cell phone, tv’s, and more. Not to mention, their room isn’t even dark.
I bet these are some simple changes you can make.
Additional Reading Resources:
- The Arc4life Pillow will Help You Sleep.
- Choose the Best Neck Pillow for Sleep
- Which Sleep Position is Best For You?
- Is there a difference between sleeping on your right or left side
- How to Sleep On Your Back Comfortably
Some great valuable tips!!! Will try to remove the computer work before getting to bed… My wife always pesters me to shutdown the cell phone – now I have another reason why to do so…
A relaxing sleep can make you can so productive, mentally sharp, emotionally balanced, and full of energy all day long.