Sleep is a vital to our general health and well-being, and none more so when we are trying to recover from an injury or surgical procedure. However pain can affect our ability to sleep well and a poor nights sleep can affect the level of pain we experience - it's a vicious circle!

The research into this is interesting, and shows a close relationship between pain and sleep disturbance, in particular persistent pain conditions.

So if you are currently experiencing pain, there is a chance that you are not sleeping well. As physiotherapists, this is something that we see a lot.

 Here are some of the things we currently know about how sleep impacts on pain:

• A lack of sleep can increase inflammation in the body, which may lead to an increase in pain.

• A lack of sleep may cause your painful area to become more painful and also cause your pain to spread further.

• A lack of sleep can cause stress, and increased stress can then impact on sleep.

• A lack of sleep can prevent us from doing our normal daily and physical activities, which can then impact on sleep.

• A lack of sleep may simply prevent you from getting better.

So if you have back pain, you may find that if you are not sleeping well, your back is more painful. This may even cause your back pain to spread. You could also find that not getting enough sleep is a factor that can flare up your back pain. Just like physical factors can at times (like lifting for example).

The relationship between sleep and pain can almost be thought of as a “vicious cycle” whereby pain causes lack of sleep and lack of sleep causes pain. But it is important to note that not getting enough sleep can be enough of a factor to flare up your pain. 

So how do we address this? How do we improve our sleep so that we have less pain?

Mama Turn and Easi Turn make turning in bed effortless, so it's super easy to change position without waking up; thus ensuring you get a restful and restorative nights sleep.

If you are in persistent pain and not sleeping well, it is important to discuss this with your physiotherapist or general practitioner.

Recently Marion McRae (Building Bulletproof Backs podcast) and I had a good chat about back pain, and how Easi Turn and Mama Turn can help you get a restorative nights sleep! If you'd like to find out more info on how to improve your sleep and decrease your pain check out our chat on the link below:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/building-bulletproof-backs-ep-13-rolling-in-bed-with/id1503889131?i=1000543128489