A painful nights sleep is like torture!
Poor sleep is a common and complex problem for people with chronic pain, rheumatoid conditions and following surgery.
Back pain at night, or any other pain that disturbs sleep, can be detrimental to your health. Learn more about how poor sleep affects your pain and your health. Experiencing increased pain at night is a common problem that many people suffer. But when this pain at night becomes chronic, and on-going, the pattern can be detrimental to our health.
Understanding the effects poor sleep has on your bodies systems, and learning ways to improve your sleep health are important aspects for achieving a healthier lifestyle - with less pain.
It is a fact! You need quality sleep for good health. Sleep deprivation affects your entire body and mind. Managing your sleeping needs, cycles and stages can help you get better sleep and reduce your pain.
Taken to the extreme, sleep deprivation has been used as an insidious form of torture, due to its effects on biological functions and its detrimental effects on mental and physical health.
Some effects of poor sleep on health
- Mood, memory and concentration
Sleep helps to organize memories, solidify learning, and improve concentration. Proper sleep, especially sleep where you are actively dreaming regulates mood as well. Lack of sleep can make you irritable and cranky, affecting your emotions, social interaction, decision making and pain.
- Immune system, nervous system and development
Without adequate sleep, the immune system becomes weak, and the body becomes more vulnerable to infection and disease.
- Nervous system and development
Sleep is also a time of rest and repair to nerves and neurons. Neurons are the freeways of the nervous system that carry out both voluntary commands, like moving, and involuntary commands, like pain, breathing and digestive processes.
- Brain cellular repair, replenishment and growth
Recent studies have suggested that sleep downtime of the brain replenishes dwindling energy stores that cells need to function and repair cellular damage caused by our busy metabolism. Effective sleep is suggested to even grow new nerve cells in the brain.
- Hormone regulation
Many hormones (substances produced to trigger or regulate particular body functions) are timed to release during sleep or right before sleep. Growth hormones, which are vital to growing children and restoring processes like muscle and nerve repair, are released during sleep.
Sleep Cycles
Regulated by your body clock, your night time journey consists of sleep cycles or stages. All stages of sleep are vital for your body and your pain. Understanding these sleeping needs, cycles and stages can help you get better sleep and reduce your pain.
Stage 1 - Drowsiness
Stage 2 - Light Sleep
Stages 3 + 4 - Deep Sleep / REM sleep (Dream Sleep)
Deep Sleep - is the most vital stage of sleep. It is when the brain attempts to recover when sleep is deprived and the strongest effects of sleep deprivation are from inadequate deep sleep.
REM sleep - is essential to our minds for processing and consolidating emotions, memories and stress.
5 Tips for Better Night Sleep with Less Pain
- Catch the Wave and go to sleep at a regular time
- Go to bed relaxed ... not wired !!
- Reduce disruptions in the bedroom
- Have a "sleep" healthy routine
- Obvious...... get comfy !