Do you have chronic insomnia? If you can't get to sleep or wake up in the middle of the night, or find that you wake up too early and can't get back to sleep, then you need to understand how your health and well-being is in jeopardy.
The body and the mind need deep, restful sleep for several hours a night, every single night, in order to be healthy and to function properly.
When you have chronic insomnia you put many systems of the body in jeopardy, and may also suffer from mood swings, inattentiveness, lack of concentration, and general irritability.
But one common cause of chronic insomnia that many people dismiss or refuse to acknowledge is back pain.
What does this have to do with the inability to sleep at night? Many people have back pain today.
This is no doubt due to the uncomfortable work stations they're at all day and also due to poor posture, as well as misusing the back throughout the day.
This can cause unremitting insomnia because the pain you feel in your back can keep you from getting comfortable at night in order to sleep.
And as you turn in your sleep, the back can suffer more stresses and strains without you even realizing it.
Very often untreated back pain causes chronic insomnia and the sufferer doesn't even realize it.
This is because when you're awake and sitting or standing upright, the muscles of the back work differently than when you're in bed.
Laying on your back means that the muscles are strained as your body weight is now pushing down on them.
When you're sitting or standing, the other muscles in the back also compensate for poor posture or a lack of support.
So being in bed itself with back problems can cause that chronic insomnia.
Typically simple stretching routines can help with back pain that causes chronic insomnia.
You don't need to become a yoga fanatic for this to work but just ten minutes every day stretching gently can help to loosen tired muscles and improve blood circulation.
If you believe your back pain is causing chronic insomnia, you can also be mindful of your posture and how you support your back during the day.
Do you have a tendency to lift heavy groceries, young children, boxes of files at the office, and so on? Your back is probably being misused when you do this.
Remember the old advice of lifting with your legs and be careful of those heavy loads.
You might not think much of these things but if your back pain is causing your chronic insomnia, it's worth being mindful of how you treat your back throughout the day.
You might also consider the quality of your mattress and doing things like putting a pillow under your knees to relieve pressure from your back.
Since chronic insomnia is so dangerous to one's health, these small changes can be vital.