Pain is very multifactorial. Literally every aspect of our life has some sort of affect on pain. So what are the most important aspects to alter or address to optimize your recovery? Over the next four weeks we will be highlighting some areas that are easily alterable to give you the keys to a successful rehabilitation. Depending on the injury there will be varying levels of optimization by altering these aspects, but there will always be SOME benefit. This week we are highlighting the most neglected but the most important one for recovery, SLEEP!
You may not think it makes a difference, but our bodies NEED an extended time of sleep each night, especially when we are recovering from an injury. There are two main phases of sleep and the non-REM phase is when our body is physically the most relaxed and growth hormones are released stimulating repair and tissue growth. A common issue is that not only are we getting not enough sleep (7-9 hours per night is optimal) we are degrading the quality of our sleep by eating late, drinking alcohol, or being on our cellphones/computer up to the point when we close our eyes! This severely affects the quality of sleep as it takes longer for us to enter the non-REM and REM cycles, lessening the impact of the restorative powers of the rest and hormones.
Another important aspect to consider will be up next week!
