When youre trying to sleep through body pain, you might find it a bit challenging to get into a comfortable enough position for a good nights sleep. Learning how to sleep better through body pain requires the best mattress to offset various pressure points of your body, as well as a sleep hygiene practice that puts your body totally at ease as you prep for a good nights sleep.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, two out of three people with chronic pain struggle with trouble sleeping as a side effect. One of the main problems that come with sleeping through chronic pain is the development of sleep anxiety, which has the potential to make your sleep deprivation worse.
Heres a comprehensive guide to sleeping better through body pain, from learning how to choose a mattress for a good nights rest to the techniques that can help you relieve some of the natural sleep anxiety you might experience as a side effect of your pain.
Ways To Sleep Better Despite Chronic Pain
There are a couple of tried and tested methods that ensure youre going to be sleeping better through the night regardless of any bodily pain you might be experiencing. These include:
- Using meditative practice to get a good nights sleep. Using a calming deep breathing technique can actually really deeply transform even your tolerance to pain. Guided meditation, tai chi, and yoga have all also been studied and shown to have positive effects on those looking to sleep better through chronic pain.
- Exercising without doing further damage. An exercise routine can improve chronic pain, as well as sleep issues. For lower impact exercises, you might want to give walking, yoga, or even swimming a try.
- Be sure not to disrupt your sleep schedule. Make sure to give up any napping during the day time, and stay away from devices with blue light, as these disrupt your sleep cycle as well.
- Try to avoid any caffeine after noon, since coffee and any drinks containing caffeine can disrupt your sleep cycle in its entirety.
- Taking a warm shower before you go to sleep at night can help bring your core body temperature down, thereby helping keep your body cool through the night. Try playing relaxing sounds or music before you go to bed so that you can help with winding down quickly through the night.
- If you still find yourself struggling to sleep through the night, avoid exercising
Finding The Best Mattress For A Comfortable Nights Sleep
To ensure youre getting a good nights sleep, finding the best mattress for lower back pain could be essential. The best mattress for chronic pain is going to require the right levels of firmness to offset any pressure you might be feeling in your joints.
The best mattress for a good nights sleep is also going to ensure youre staying cool and comfortable through your rest. Besides this, the best mattresses tend to be engineered with motion isolation in mind, which ensures interruption-free sleep through the night.
Once youre confident youve found the best mattress you can for a good nights sleep, youre going to need other sleep accessories to support a good nights sleep. Adjustable bed frames can be equally useful when youre trying to work through a good nights sleep. Many adjustable bed frames are designed with those who have chronic body pain in mind and come with pre-set positions that help to relieve pressure.
How Pain Disrupts Your Sleep
The CDC recommends at least seven hours of sleep per night for the average American adult, though one in every three Americans average to much less than this. To figure out how youre going to be catching up on sleep, you first need to realize that deep sleep is needed in order to accomplish this.
When chronic pain in the middle of the night wakes you up, you tend to spend more time in light sleep. This reduced sleep, in particular, shorter REM, can increase your sensitivity to pain. Chronic pain can also make an impact on your sleep position – certain types of pain can therefore be exacerbated because of the contortions your body makes to get comfortable through the night.
Whether its finding the best mattress you can for a good nights sleep, or simply making sure youre you have a sleep hygiene routine thats relaxing enough in place for you to wind down properly at night, ensuring that pain doesnt disrupt a good nights sleep for you each night is going to be essential when youre working through your chronic pain.
Remember to always consult a physician before you begin thinking of ways to alleviate your own trouble sleeping, and ensure that you choose to invest in high-quality materials and products so that youre able to rest much more comfortably and securely through your back pain.