Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Your Pillow Could Be The Reason For Your Back Pain

We all know the value of a good night's sleep because every single one of us has spent days when we could not concentrate on work the whole day simply because we could not sleep well at night.

The consequent irritability and lack of focus not only reduces one's productivity to a considerable extent but also makes one displease a few people around. And we often find ourselves wondering as to what it was that made our sleep so unfulfilled. What could it be that prevented you from having a nice sleep despite your being dead tired when you got back home from work. The last thing that is likely to come to your mind is the pillow.

That little piece that we keep under our heads as we doze off never really comes across as so important. But it certainly is a sleep-maker or a sleep-spoiler depending upon how good a shape it is in. Not just that, it may also be a reason for the awful pain that you sometimes feel in your neck, shoulder and upper back.

The position of the spine while we are sleeping must be right; or else one could get up with a terrible backache. The reason could be a pillow that needs urgent replacement. Most of us fail to realize that over the time pillows tend to become unfit for a sound sleep. They tend to get lumpy or compressed, which makes them less supportive. So, if your pillow is showing the signs of aging, it is time for you to go pillow shopping.

While shopping for the pillow, make sure that you get the pillow of the right size and made of the right material. The pillow should neither be too soft, nor too hard. An excessively soft pillow may not support your head sufficiently well and adjust itself according to the position of your head, which might be a reason for pain in the neck and lower back later. Similarly, an overtly hard pillow may make you feel as though you had a stone underneath your head, which would obviously make your sleep far from comfortable.

Once you get the right pillow, it would help you keep the spine in the right place while you are asleep. And if your backache was the result of an old pillow, you would see the dramatic improvements.

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