Back pain after waking up is not an uncommon occurrence. Indeed, many people around the world experience lower back pain the moment they get up in the morning. Usually, this kind of pain is due to the position a person is sleeping in or the quality of their mattress. However, sometimes, the amount of sleep you get at night can also be determinative of whether or not you suffer from back pain when you wake up.
In other words, your morning back pain can also be related to how long you sleep every night. If you have been experiencing morning back pain for a long time now, it is highly advised to seek the professional advice of a lower back pain clinic immediately. In the meantime, here are some important pieces of information to help you understand how your sleep time, specifically inadequate and excessive sleep, can affect your back.
How Inadequate Sleep Affects Your Back
Besides making you feel exhausted and impairing your mental focus, lack of ample sleep can also cause you to experience back pain. This is usually because failure to get adequate sleep can deprive your muscles of enough time to recuperate from the day’s activities. This can then result in muscle stiffness and back pain.
Furthermore, poor sleep can also lead to higher inflammation levels. With insufficient sleep, your body has no time to generate essential anti-inflammatory compounds, which can then exacerbate back pain, specifically ones related to tissue inflammation. Based on several studies, sleep deprivation can also make certain parts of your brain more receptive to pain signals. This is likely the reason why you might recognise your back pain more when you do not have enough sleep.
How Too Much Sleep Affects Your Back
The majority of people are aware that one needs to get adequate sleep in order to maintain good health, and this includes keeping your back pain-free and healthy. However, what many people do not realise is that there is such a thing as getting too much sleep. Several researchers have found that oversleeping is linked to a number of health issues, such as heart disease, diabetes, and even depression.
Moreover, too much sleep can also worsen your back problems, specifically lower back pain. There are numerous possible reasons why this happens. Here are some of them:
Bad Sleeping Position
When you sleep excessively, the likelihood of being in an awkward or poor sleeping position is increased, and this can increase your chances of experiencing back pain. There are actually many reasons that can cause you to sleep in a poor position, such as a bad mattress and your habits and lifestyle. If you suffer from back pain after oversleeping, try shortening your sleep duration to just 8 hours per night.
Low-Quality Mattress
Aside from poor sleeping position, having a bad mattress can also be the culprit behind your back pain in the morning. Particularly, if you oversleep on a low-quality mattress, your body will be exposed to uncomfortable sleep conditions for an extended period of time. This can cause you to be in a sleeping position that is against your spine’s natural curve. As a result, you may experience back pain when you wake up. Basically, oversleeping on a low-quality mattress exacerbates a problem that already exists.
Muscle Fatigue
Oversleeping can also result in muscle fatigue. When you lie flat on your back for a long period of time, it can cause the muscles that support your back’s normal curvature to become exhausted or fatigued. When muscle fatigue happens during your sleep, you are likely to wake up experiencing back pain and tight muscles in the morning.
Conclusion
Ultimately, how long you sleep at night has some significant effects on your health, particularly on the condition of your back. Both sleeping inadequately and excessively can cause you to experience back pain when you wake up in the morning. As such, it is important to make sure that you get just the right amount of sleep every night to avoid suffering from back pain and other related health problems. According to experts, the recommended sleep time for most adults is 7 to 9 hours.
Should you require effective medical assistance for your recurring back pain, Affinity Pain Clinic is here to help you! We are one of Singapore’s musculoskeletal lower back pain experts that provide extensive treatment options for back pain problems. Aside from this, we also offer other first-class treatments for a variety of pain conditions, such as headaches and migraines, joint pain, neuropathic pain, elbow pain, sports injury, and musculoskeletal knee pain in Singapore.
For more information about our reliable treatments, please do not hesitate to reach out to us today by simply filling out the contact form here.
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