From childhood to adulthood, people are taught about the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle through good nutrition and fitness methods. An individual’s overall wellness depends on how well they choose to listen to their bodies and follow the healthiest techniques they’ve learned throughout their days. But, what happens when after a long night of rest, you wake of feeling pain, despite maintaining a balanced nutrition and achieving your fitness goals?
Foremost, a proper posture is characterized by the natural alignment of the head and neck with the rest of the spine, even during sleep. If an individual is using multiple pillows to rest their head on at night, this can be fairly difficult to accomplish. The neck may be tilted or twisted this way for prolonged periods of time throughout the night, causing the muscles, ligaments, and other tissues surrounding the neck to painfully stretch and strain. Instead, the individual should use a single pillow beneath the head to maintain correct spinal alignment.
Ultimately, the best overall sleep posture is one that promotes a balanced spine and proper alignment. There are three common sleeping positions; side, back and stomach sleeping. Back and side sleeping can achieve the required spinal alignment to avoid injury, the development of conditions and other complications by adjusting pillow posture.
When it comes to reaching optimal health, sleep is also an important element for overall wellness and people are rarely taught which are the most appropriate sleep positions. Since childhood, many individuals develop their own sleeping postures, however, the position that may be most comfortable and natural for some people might create health complications in the future. Pillow posture or the way your head is positioned while sleeping, is a top priority for those individuals facing neck pain and discomfort. For more information, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at (915) 850-0900.