Anybody who has ever suffered any type of pain will always find sleeping difficult and struggle to get adequate rest. Disturbed sleep can make it more difficult for your body to heal.
In This Article:
Solving Sleep Problems
Back Pain, Sciatica, Neck Pain , Hip Pain and Knee Pain make it really difficult to find a comfortable position to lie. Shoulder pain is another problem that gets worse at night.
Musculoskeletal injuries have huge effects on our ability to sleep and rest. Increasing fatigue and has massive effects on our stress levels and how we cope with pain both acute and chronic (persistent).
Sufferers with chronic pain, such as fibromyalgia and other chronic pain syndromes almost always suffer poor sleep patterns and usually need to prioritise sleep as part of their treatment.
(Wry Neck)
How Pain Signals To The Brain
The way our brains interpret the sensation of pain can be affected by not only our physical health but also by our moods and how we feel mentally. This is why good clean sleep is hugely important for people dealing with pain.
People are always told that we need at least 8 hours of sleep. At times this can be unrealistic. We live in a very fast-moving world, with a lot of early starts for commuting to work, young families, and trying to hold down a career. All roads collectively lead to less hours in bed resting!
Poor sleep practices lead to fatigue, poor mood, poor mental function and may even lead to weight gain. Studies have shown that poor sleep patterns over a longer term can also lead to cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Even Alzheimers and other forms of dementia have all been linked to poor sleep.
⭐ Brace / Support
⭐ Heat Pack
⭐ Massage
⭐ Movement
⭐ Stretching
⭐ Strength Exercises
⭐ Cold Therapy
⭐ Booklet
Poor Sleep Causes More Pain and Less Recovery
I want to concentrate on poor sleep and pain. When you sleep your body can repair tissue damage. All the tissues of your body can rest and it gives the body time to focus on repairing the damage!
So less sleep means less repairing and slower recovery from injury. And we know the longer any type of musculoskeletal injury goes uncorrected the greater the chance of developing chronic or persistent pain.
If you are suffering from both chronic and acute pain – sleep must play a big part in your treatment. Like diet, hydration and exercise sleep must be improved!
Tips to Get to Sleep When Dealing With Pain
It’s more difficult to fall asleep when dealing with pain, so it’s important to make sleep a priority. Prepare for bed and sleep. Learning how to sleep while in pain starts by retraining your brain with healthy thoughts and behaviors.
Deep breathing, mindfulness techniques, and sleep apps have shown to help but I think the less stimulus the better so I’d be more in favour of mindfulness techniques. These techniques can take time to master but persevere.
Avoid the following:
- Stimulants like screens, in fact there should be no screens in the bedroom
- Caffeine or alcohol too close to bedtime
- Refined sugar!
Meditation and exercise early in the day can also help cope with the pain and prepare for better sleep.
To summarise better sleep will help with pain both physically in repair of damaged tissues but also mentally as good sleep affects how we interpret pain.
