Sleep posture to improve low back pain, improve sleep.

Sleep positions can help decrease pain and improve sleep if you know what you are doing. I have recommended sleeping on one stomach to help low back pain to patients I see in the clinic.

 This position is not for everyone but many I have suggested this to have been helped.

One doesn't lie on their stomach but usually a combination of positions. This position I call stomach/side position. Try it. Try it both sides and pick the side that is most comfortable. Try this position when you first go to bed or just before you get out of bed in the morning. Of course if it hurts don't do it.

Try this position for only a few minutes at first lengthening it a bit but always stay within your comfort zone.

Bend the leg on the side you are lying on a little or a lot, and again only to your comfort.

When lying in this position be careful not to rotate your head to far to the left or right as this could also irritate your neck while you are positioning to help your low back.

Link with picture of the position and how you can use a pillow to reduce neck irritation.

http://www.deepsleeppillow.com/pillow-uses/stomach-sleeper-pillow.html

This position reminds me of a therapy we use at the clinic called McKenzie therapy, but that another story.

Sleeping on the Couch in the summer heat

I'm really lucky I guess because my couch is a futon just like my bed. I like a nice hard futon bed. I just turn it over now and then and I fell like I have a new bed. Summer heat and I am tossing and turning a bit to find just that right spot, that right position where I can rest comfortably. The hard bed helps but the heat makes it a bit harder to find. I am patient and I do find what I search for. I do sleep all night or at least I am now that I have a few nights under my belt. That first night was rough though. A hole lot of tossn and turnin going on to be absolutely truthful.

I can't lie to you. We are creating a relationship of trust here and I must be honest and tell you the whole truth even if it hurts a bit. I love to sleep and you know that is true from my past blogs. I really do love to sleep but especially after a very productive day of planning and dreaming and doing what comes next in my business. I especially need the sleep when I realize how I must think, feel and act to keep a balance in my family while creating a business.

Well that's a deep subject in an emotional pool of uncertainty and high anxiety. To keep in balance as a family in the heat of summer. That is definitely for another blog. I'll call the new blog "My New Doghouse" or "The Many Reasons I Sleep on A Futon Couch".

Sleep and Dream Recall

I slept well last night and had dreams too. A few at least. I have been in a habit to write dreams down so I can get what the inner dream world is trying to tell me. This dream world, on the inner, is helping me grow spiritually. It helps me emotionally and mentally cope. I awake with an attitude of "I can do it". "It will be exciting and rewarding learning new things and making them a reality". I find life is an adventure when I awake this way. Refreshing, like a spring day.

I need to write it down, whats happening in my dreams. I don't know about you but my dreams are important to me and I find that when I take the time and use discipline to get up and write it down I get all kinds of insights.
I discovered last night that it was very hard to get up and write it down. I had not been doing it because I was really getting into getting great sleep. I got lazy is my only excuse. Oh how I love to sleep but dreaming is an important part of my life also.

In the past, as a discipline I would program myself before I went to bed to wake at night with dreams right as they were concluding. I agreed with myself that I would only wake to the "important" ones. This reasoning and technique not only brought me good sleep but also wonderful time for dreaming.

I feel blessed.

I have trained myself to get up and with my journal on my side table I would jot quickly the essence of the dream. This way I got the point. The salient detail and surprisingly enough there would be a lesson there just for me. Those lesson are another matter but I love to sleep and I love to dream but I need the discipline to get up and write the salient details of those dreams.

Who am I? A side sleeper and sleep positions.

As an introduction please go to the links below. About me and my passion.

http://www.deepsleeppillow.com/about-us.html

http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/lee_parimuha_dc.html

I am a side sleeper. My right side is best. I face my wife this way and seem to fall asleep here first and go back to it throughout the night. I also sleep on my left side, and what I call left side-stomach and right side-stomach. My last best sleep position is right side-back.

Body position is important in finding comfort. These are mine. Four positions plus a one! What are yours?

Sleep, Pain, Hormones and Avoidance of Medications

I am over 50 years old now which I understand is the new 30's. Thank God for this new attitude! I will make this new attitude a big part of my living but at times I feel like I'm older and pain can get in the way of my needed sleep.

I sometimes kick up new irritations to old injuries. A car accident in my youth has created degenerative bone changes in my neck. Not a big problem but I can see it on an x-ray. I have another injury to a shoulder from years ago that bothers me when I lift weight or at other times. Either of these could interrupt my sleep but they usually don't. I don't take a medication usually because I've learned that some irritation is good for the body so that cartilage is rebuilt and anti-inflammatories get in the way of this very important aspect of healing. So what do I do to guarantee good sleep? I have many things I've learned over the years.

Youth is wasted on the young, is an old refrain but still holds a lot of truth. Not to be respectful of youth but youth, in general, don't know how well they have it. I am a bit jealous to be sure. I didn't know how well I had it either when I was their age.

I now know that hormones that rage in youth are only a shadow of what they were in one's 50's. Darn! I knew there was a catch. I didn't know just what I signed up for coming into this body and suffering the injuries of my youth. I might have been more careful to be sure.

I can and do work on my hormones to help my body produce more and keep what I have in balance. This strategy as well as others I will be blogging about keep my range of pain and irritation low most of the time so I can sleep very well.

I love to sleep. I sleep well so I can enjoy life and the adventure life has become. Hormone maintenance and balance as well as the avoidance of anti-inflammatories help a great deal.
There are so many great ways to improve ones sleep and enjoy life. Stay tuned...

ATB

The importance of pillows.

I love to sleep as I've mentioned but I find I must settle in to "my comfort zone" by using pillows. I know when I was younger I only needed one pillow and is I was camping or roughing it a bit a folded up pair of Levis would do. The joke was "I could sleep standing up". I am sure there are many who can remember the day when it was really easy to sleep.

It is still easy to sleep but I've noticed I do settle in more now and the pillow I use is all the more important. I use a pillow I developed and patented. It suits me and my neck to a T. It is adjustable as I sleep and conforms to my needs as I change positions.

I mostly sleep on my sides and my stomach. I use two pillows one for my neck that tilts off the bed and comforts my neck and the thicker side holds up my head keeping the neck and spine in line. The other pillow I just hold on to. It somehow supports my shoulder and I feel more comfortable.

I guess some might say its like a "blankie"or a stuffed animal a child would use for emotional comfort when they find themselves in a new room away from mom and dad. I don't care how others might see it and I am passed the need to impress others with my macho. In the privacy of my own room I can find the comfort I need for deep comforting sleep.

Out of town travel and sleeping well too.

I went out of town this weekend for a little break and a father daughter trip. What fun.

A friend we were visiting remarked that when he travelled he wouldn't sleep well the first night.
The second night and then on I imagined he would have great sleep.

I found his comment fascinating. What a relationship we have with our sleep. Changes in beds, pillows and location have their effect. What do we not have on the "first night" of a trip that we find again on the second night? Maybe its change itself. As we all get older we need to change but it gets harder. We are set in our ways some say. I guess they are right, for some. I like to see life and sleep as an adventure needing constant attention so my love of life can shine and shine. I know its an attitude. For sure it has to start with me so my attention and my attitude for deep sleep reflects my zest for life. Kind of a paradox huh? Zest for life and quiet repose.

My friends comment reminds me of a story of when my family and I would go camping for the weekend. My sisters, familiar with the bathroom facilities at home often would hold off the inevitable, going number two, till they returned to surroundings they were more accustomed to. Its funny now, looking back but my sisters feelings of safety, and a sense of familiarity were very important. This sense, and feeling are also important when falling and letting go in sleep too I suppose.