Spinal muscles smarting this A.M.?
Got a nasty neck ache?
Well, if you tend to be a tummy sleeper, that might just be why, says science. And, actually, it’s not all that scientific, really. Just try taking a look at anyone doing the dead man’s float through snooze-land. Look at how their head’s positioned, look at what their back does, and it should become abundantly clear why it’s so horribly bad for you.
Don’t see it?
Fair enough. Maybe it’s just people who work in the health field who can notice this kind’ve thing. So, for the sake of you folk who fancy smashing your abdomen against the mattress, I’ll break it on down (like you’re doing to your own body). Let’s start with that cervical pedestal your head rests on. Your neck. In order for you to, ya know, not die on account’ve suffocation at night, you’ve gotta turn your head to one side or the other. Otherwise you get your face holes full of pillow. Hopefully, anyone here who relies on oxygen to survive is aware of that little nugget of the-more-you-know-ness already. However, what you may be less familiar with is what happens when your head’s rotated to one side or the other for a prolonged period. Here’s a clue: pain. Why? Because it vexes the vertebrae in your neck via the excessive strain on those muscles and ligaments meant to support your cervical spine (AKA neck bones). But for many people, that’s not enough of a motive to change their ways.
“Can you flip me over, pleasethanks?”
Which is why we’ll move onto how badly you’re massacring your back when you rest on your chest.
See, we’ve all got this natural li’l curve in our lower backs. Granted, some of us can be thankful for it because for some of us it’s the only means we have of fooling people into thinking we’ve got a perky posterior. But, trust when I say that you don’t want that curve to be accentuated – ’cause that’s when a slew of spinal pain problems await you. And, I hate to be a bedtime buzzkill for you belly sleepers – but that’s exactly what happens when you assume your fave posish. See, when you’re laying spine up, that curve increases. And why’s that matter? ’cause much like the upper spine, the lower spine also has little meat pieces. And they too are charged with protecting it, allowing you to ambulate, and ultimately keeping you from looking like a worm with limbs. Eff with that, and a whole domino effect of postural misery gets set off. And what effects do you immediately feel? Well, to start with, you’ll wake up with a tight back. Annoying, but if you fail to stretch it out or alter your mattress habits, it could ultimately start causing probs on the opposite side: your tummy. More specifically – your core. And the importance of your core versus dorsal alignment’s super crucial. Because once that’s off, all the other stuff in your body begins a chronic pain cascade too. Not to mention that you’re already messing up your neck as well (by rotating it to breathe).
So, what’s the fix to all of this? Well, bite the bullet instead of your pillow, and try a different direction for dozing. Side sleep with a pillow betwixt your pins – or mayhaps sleep face up with one under your sacrum. Try committing to it for a week, just to see if the sudden freedom from ouchery (and avoidance of morphing into Igor imminently) is enough to keep your new sleep style around. If not – as a last resort – try switching it up. Compromise with yourself. And, after evenings of going gut down, get up and alternate the cat and camel with child’s pose in the A.M.
(It’s like a spinal reminder for your backbone to bend instead’ve going all rigor mortis in the morning.)
To recap: if you’re prone to aches by day, it may be from laying prone too much at night.
The solution? Stop doing that. Duh.
But, if you can’t – do a few stretches of shame on days after giving into your sinful sleep inclinations.