Why Your Back Is Stopping You From Sleeping In

Does your back keep waking you up at 5am? You’re brain wants more sleep, but your back just can’t handle laying in bed any longer?

There are various reasons why your back gets grumpy in the morning.

Here are 2 common ones:

1. Your Mattress.

If you find that when you’re away from home you sleep better, then the solution is likely to find out what mattress you’re sleeping well on and get that mattress. As simple as that.
If your back is grumpy no matter what bed you sleep on, keep reading.

2. It Could Be A Disc Problem.

How would you know this? If you spend too much of your day sitting, there’s a good chance that you have a disc problem.
A disc is like a jelly donut, it has a firm thick wall and a jelly centre that helps absorb shock.

​

Here’s what happens:

By the end of the day your discs are thinner due to the various postures and activities such as sitting, standing, lifting. Much of the water content of the discs dissipates and you are literally shorter by the end of the day.

Now you go to bed, putting the least amount of stress on your back and discs. This allows the discs to rehydrate. Water literally flows back into the discs. This increases the amount of pressure within the disc.

So where’s the problem you ask? Normally, that is not a problem, in fact that is good and normal.

But if you have a disc injury, the problem is that the wall of your disc doesn’t like this increased pressure as it pushes out on the injured wall causing pain.

So, you get out of bed, walk around for 5min, or have a nice shower causing water to leave the disc a bit and therefore pressure within the disc to decrease, and now your back stops being grumpy.

Solutions?

Short-term solution:
1.If you are a back sleeper, try putting a folded up towel under your lower back so that the hollow curve of your lower back remains throughout the night. This will put your back in a position that the discs can best handle the increased pressure.
2. Watch this video to safely ease your morning stiffness.

Long-term solution: get your back assessed by a chiropractor to sort out your disc problem.