3 Simple Ways to Deal With Neck Pain While Sleeping

Neck pain is one of the causes of sleeplessness. If you’ve experienced neck pain at any point, you know how difficult it can be to deal with it while sleeping.

Some of the factors that lead to neck pain include physical activities, repetitive movements, fitness activities, and injury or illness.

Other times, certain occupations like regular computer workers, manual laborers, and health care workers may also have the risk of neck pain.

While certain exercises and yoga can help with neck pain, it can be helpful to know a few ways to deal with neck pain so you sleep better at night. Here are a few of them.

1. Choose a pillow for proper neck form

Not all pillows are created equal. A good pillow is one that helps keep your neck in proper form while you sleep. 

A good pillow supports a natural posture so that you don’t expose your spine and neck muscles to needless strain. 

A study was conducted which produced assumption-supportive results. The study was a test conducted on 52 patients who suffered from neck pain. 

These patients were given four pillows. Forty out of 52 patients reported that it using pillow alleviated that neck pain. So it is a good symptom for those who are suffering from neck pain. 

The bottom line is your pillow is supposed to keep your head in a proper position. Your nose should be aligned with your spine and center of the body. 

An oversized pillow will keep your head uplifted and put a strain on your neck, and too soft pillow will fall your neck downward.

Your goal is to choose a sleeping pillow that is neither too soft nor too fat.

2. Stop sleeping on the stomach

Here’s the thing: sleeping on the stomach is the least healthy sleeping position.

When you sleep on the stomach, your head twists in an awkward position and puts a strain on your neck muscles. 

Part of the reason is that when you sleep on your stomach, your body’s weight is centered around the middle of your body. And such a position is not how you maintain a neutral spine position. 

The other reason sleeping on your stomach leads to neck pain is that you’re not able to breathe well.

Your sleeping position places an incredible amount of stress on your spine and nerves, resulting in pain and often numbness.

3. Avoid couch slouching

Falling asleep on a couch is not always the best thing for your neck. Let me explain.

Because some couches are not full-sized to hold the full length of our bodies, we’re forced to slouch when we sleep on them. 

Sleeping on the couch puts your body and neck muscles in a stiff position. It is common to feel pain in the neck after sleeping on a couch, because of the wrong body posture. 

So, kick this bad habit out and make sure you sleep on a bed to avoid neck pain causes. One easy way to start is to practice yoga stretches to loosen stiffness.