QUITE OFTEN, people ask me about their mattress or their pillow(s), and if changing something about how they sleep can get rid of their neck pain. The short answer is “maybe”, and the longer answer is “maybe not”.
That isn’t very helpful, I know. Sorry, but to figure out something like that you need to know about a person’s day-to-day postural habits, about the firmness or softness of their mattress and pillow or pillows, about their sleeping position, and more. Even after knowing all those details, the person must then experiment with different options until comfort is achieved. And sometimes just spending $1,000 on a new mattress or getting a new pillow isn’t going to make much of a difference if the problem isn’t in the bed but is in the habits and patterns of living that the neck pain sufferer has.
Here’s the thing: the body is an amazing machine. It has the ability to withstand a lot of stress and injury without causing you pain or malfunctioning. While we sleep our bodies are busy repairing all the cellular damage, muscle strain, biological stress and all the other normal wear-and-tear our bodies endure. If we are sleeping in a state of physical distress then our bodies will not be able to perform the repair and rebuild processes at a proper level. Therefore, we will wake up feeling like we did not get a good night’s sleep. At night our food from dinner is turned into energy and used to repair the daily damage, and our brains are busy working double time to coordinate all the necessary activities that our bodies perform when in a state of restful sleep.
Many times, the feeling of pain or fatigue upon waking in the morning is due to a poor sleeping position or improper mattress or pillow. In cases like this, using a better sleeping position can sometimes resolve the complaint within a few nights. A mattress is a costly option, though, so less expensive things should be looked into first, but to know if your mattress is bad just look at it. Does it sag in deeply at the middle? If so, then it is time to flip, rotate, or replace your mattress. If your pillows stack your head up too high, remove a pillow or get a smaller one. Ideally, your ears should be about shoulder level and in the same plane as the rest of your body. Try a new pillow set-up to see if that helps.
Still, many times the problem is that the wear-and-tear of the day is so much that a good night’s rest is not possible because too much repair is needed in the back and neck. All the usual bodily processes meant to keep your body in optimal shape may get sidelined by a body and brain too pre-occupied with addressing neck or back pain and injuries. Your body will prioritize what to repair first, and put other things on hold. So, consider the number of things your body is tasked with fixing each night: the shoulder and neck pain from being at the computer, the stress of getting things cleaned up and the kids put to bed each night just to get them cleaned up, fed, and off to school the next morning, the knee pain, the hip pain, and the headaches around 3pm each day. If this is your life, then your body has a full slate of jobs to do each night and maybe it wakes up each morning with many items still not addressed, leading you to feel pretty bad each morning.
Poor posture throughout the day can even make a good sleeping situation into a problem. If you have “computer posture” and spend your day slumped over a desk, then the strain and stress on your back, shoulder-area and neck is a cumulative, repetitive stress injury and simply being in bed may be a stress to the body – no matter how great your pillow or mattress is. The act of holding your head in a poor posture for your workday may very well make a proper posture at night uncomfortable. Abusing your body all day long can easily make a restful, recuperative night of sleep an impossible task. So be sure to pay attention to how you handle your body throughout your waking hours, as well, not just when in bed. The way you feel when awake can be affected by your sleeping habits, and vice-versa.
We have all been in the situation where we lie down on our stomachs with our heads to one side, and then when we finally rotate our heads the other way and it is stiff and painful to move. That may be how your neck feels when you wake up in the morning if you sleep so soundly that you barely move an inch at night. And sleeping on your stomach, if that is what you do, is truly NOT a good way to sleep. It forces you to reduce blood flow and nerve input/output to and from the brain for the entire night, and this disrupts your bodily processes or repair and rebuild. You will not get a good night’s sleep if this is your sleeping position, in all likelihood, and you will be causing lots of stiffness and pain upon waking up.
The ideal position to sleep in for most people is on their sides with a pillow between the knees, or on the back with a pillow below the knees. The pillow keeps you from moving too much while asleep, to keep you in good position. Rolling from one side to the other is great, but you will probably have to wake up to move the pillow or will simply lose the pillow – but at least you were well-positioned for some of the night.
Feel free to stop by for a consultation with one of the doctors at Park Bench Chiropractic if you have any questions or want to know if chiropractic can help you. One thing that is for sure is that a well-aligned spine with no pressure on the nerves and muscles of the spine will allow you to have a more restful, recuperative night of sleep. If some simple things like trying to sit up straighter aren’t getting you out of pain, give us a call.