I hope the previous blog posts describing my techniques have been informative for you, but I’m not the
only person who can help improve your spinal health. There is so much more that
you can do on your own to reach your
peak physical condition if you are willing to make some small lifestyle
changes. This post is the first in a series that will detail these suggestions.
Let’s begin with a simple question: what do humans spend
one-third of our lives doing? The answer is sleeping. Considering this, it
isn’t surprising that the position we sleep in can have a great impact on our
spines. Another question: what do you think is the best position for sleep? If
you answered “on your side” or “on your stomach,” you were wrong. Besides the
fact that sleeping on your stomach provides no back support, it also increases
Lordosis (the inward curvature of the lumbar and cervical columns) and pressure
on your nerves. In addition, rotating your head to one side to breathe—as you
must when sleeping on your stomach—cuts off some of the blood supply to the
brain. In fact, sleeping on your back is the best option.
But even if you already do sleep on your back, there are ways
to tweak this position to make it even more beneficial for your spine. First,
use a pillow that supports your neck and lets your head hang back, perhaps even
to the point of touching the bed (if you can handle it). Also, try bending your
knees and using a sleeping bag or large pillow to support them. This allows
your spine to maintain a proper curve during the nighttime hours. In addition,
if you snore, it opens the airways and your chance of snoring greatly
decreases. Try sleeping this way for at least three weeks (the amount of time
it takes to create a habit), and if you find that you cannot get adequate sleep
while on your back, then move to your side.
When sleeping on your side, make sure that you don’t find your arm
beneath your pillow to prop your head up. If you do, this means that your
pillow isn’t thick enough. Your elbow should not be higher than your shoulder when sleeping. If you don’t
believe me, try this: when you’re sitting or standing, try raising your elbow
above your shoulder and see what a strange position this puts your body in, and
then imagine holding it there for hours on end. Clearly, this is not an ideal
position for the muscles and bones of your spine/shoulders. While you sleep on
your side, your head should be propped up to its natural resting position from
the shoulder to the neck, not any higher or lower. To prevent rotation of the
hips, sleep with a pillow between your knees to keep the hips even and level
with one another.
Make sure that, above all, your mattress has adequate low back support. This means no air mattresses or waterbeds and no thick pillow-tops. Mattresses should
be firm and flat.
Continuing on a traditional daily routine, you should pay
more attention to the way you get out of bed in the morning. When you’ve been
sleeping for 6-9 hours, your muscles must be warmed up and stretched before you
can expect them to function at their full capacity, just as you would warm up
before a workout. Try this stretch routine the next time you wake up, rather
than hopping right out of bed. First, lie on your back. Then, repeat the
following exercises three times each:
- Point your toes.
- Raise your arms so that they are straight in front of you, point your fingertips and reach forward as far as you can while still keeping your back on the bed, then bring your arms back.
- Bring one knee to your chest, then the other, and then bring them both to your chest together (as pictured below).
- Roll to your side, push yourself up sideways (rather than doing a sit-up), and carefully swing your legs so that your feet are on the floor.
Once we’re out of bed, usually the first thing we do is head
to the bathroom and brush our teeth. How do you brush yours? Do you stand bent
over the counter? If you do, try this instead: place one foot in front of the
other, bend (engaging your abdominals), place your forearms on the counter, and
use your wrist to brush your teeth
rather than your arm. Doing this helps decrease the chance of pulling a muscle or
injuring a disc before your body has had a chance to stretch fully.
As I said previously, this is only the first in a series of
posts that will address the ways that you can improve your spinal health on
your own. Keep an eye out for the next, which will focus on the lifestyle
changes you can make during the day—at work, at home, and everywhere you go!
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