Sleep has always been a mystery for medical science. It is a known fact everyone needs sleep to function properly and we spend a third of our life sleeping. And yet the mystery behind why we sleep has been around for a while and our medical understanding of this has improved significantly over the past few decades.
Not getting enough sleep has been a major issue for a lot of people, especially for people in western countries. Lack of sleep can lead to various problems such as poor mental health, lack of coordination, physical pain, weight gain, and so on. Sleep deprivation in the long term can increase the risk of getting heart diseases, dementia, and diabetes.
When you sleep it helps your body to focus on repairing tissue damage. Your sleeping period is the time when your body is relaxed and releases chemicals that help to heal your body. If you are not getting enough sleeping hours it means less time to heal. Sleep deprivation can even turn minor conditions into chronic ones.
It is also observed that lack of sleep not only slows down the whole healing process but also results in causing certain other conditions such as back pain.
How can Sleep Deprivation Result in Back Pain?
A study was conducted by experts in the field of medical science for over two years. During the study, they recorded various aspects of their life such as their blood pressure, exercise, family history, sleeping hours, level of activities, and more.
Out of all these aspects, people who were getting less than 8 hours of sleep were observed to develop lower back pain no matter how flexible or strong they were or the level of stress they had, it all narrowed down to the quality of sleep they were getting.
Studies have proven that people who don’t get an adequate amount of sleep are suffering from neck and back pain. Another important reason for inadequate sleep is the level of stress they are dealing with. Stress can really mess up our sleeping patterns and can cause various issues.
Whatever may be the cause for lack of sleep, fixing them is a crucial thing to do as it is essential for your healing and recovery process. There are a number of ways through which one can improve their quality of sleep. Let us discuss them in detail.
Stay Away From Your Electronic Devices at Least One Hour Before Sleep
Taking your phone, laptops, and such devices to your bed is not a good habit. They emit light just the same as the color temperature of sunlight tricking your mind and keeping you away from sleep. All the content on these devices is highly stimulating and prevents your body from getting the proper rest your body needs.
If you really can’t avoid your screen time during late hours, you can enable night mode on your device. It is much warmer in color and helps to reduce drowsiness.
Reduce the Intake of Caffeine
One of the major effects of caffeine is that it prevents adenosine release, which induces the feeling of drowsiness in our body. It is better to stay away from caffeine after the evening.
Caffeine is not only included in coffee but also contained in energy drinks, green tea, black tea sodas, and such. Intake of all these can negatively affect your sleep.
Don’t Use Alcohol As a Remedy to Sleep
Just like caffeine the intake of alcohol adversely affects your quality of sleep. It might feel good to drink before sleeping and it might put you to sleep faster but the quality of sleep will be reduced.
Use Dim Lights in the Evening
Making a cozy atmosphere can easily make you feel sleepy. Dimmer warmer lights help you to sleep early. One of the ways our body identifies its time to sleep is through the light we are surrounded by.
If you are exposed to heavy lights, then it might be very difficult for you to fall asleep. With the help of dim lights, your body starts to produce adenosine which will help you to fall asleep.
Wrapping Up
It is important that you sleep for at least 7 to 8 hours a day to function properly and to fasten your healing and recovering process. If you are someone struggling with irregular sleeping patterns, let us know, as we will help you get through this.