#175 Get up

Natalie Dee may hate mornings, and maybe you do too. But when you live with chronic pain and as a natural result of that have trouble sleeping, staying in bed is not a good option. I'm sorry for giving it to you straight but that's how it is.

I often wake up really early, and especially if I'm pain I just want to stay horizontal hoping to get some more rest. But years of experience have shown me that that's just not going to help.

Get up the same time every morning, even if you're tired. That's what every sleep specialist will tell you... apparently its important to set the brain's circadian clock, which regulates hormones for our sleep cycles.

Get moving, do some warm ups to get your circulation going and stay as active as you possibly can through the day. Make up for lost sleep with meditation and a power nap if you can.

#171 Take sleepy precautions

As important as it is to sleep soundly when we have a chronic pain condition, it is not easy to do this. From my current state of woozy jet lag I figured I´m in the perfect situation to elaborate on this, so I´m going to write a few more sleep related pain-free tips, the first of them being:

Do an inventory of your sleep situation.

Answer the following questions:

1. How many hours of sleep have you had per night during the last week? (btw this is important info for your pain journal)

2. Is your bedroom a serene and peaceful environment for resting? - If not, what changes are necessary to make it so?

3. What do you do in the hours preceding going to bed? - should you be doing other stuff instead?

4. Are there things/activities/people you know may interfere with your sleep? How can you minimize their influence?

5. How many hours of sleep do you need in order to function well? - compared to what you are getting now.

Talking to your doctor to get the right combination of medication for pain & sleep is essential, but creating the best possible routines around your sleep is equally important, and no-one but you can do this in a way that is right for you. What precautions can you take today to ensure that you get as much good quality sleep as possible?