(ProActive Sports Rehab offers a weekly column promoting health, fitness and physical therapy. Please be sure to check back each week for a new topic!)
Every night, while you’re peacefully sleeping, four things may be happening that could seriously harm your health. Fortunately, there are many ways to address these problems. A major one is to invest in a good mattress.
Four Sleep Troubles That Hurt Your Health
1. Pressure points — Tossing and turning can interrupt your sleep. Research shows that people change positions up to 120 times a night on surfaces that don’t provide good support. This restlessness reduces restorative REM sleep, which affects attentiveness and energy throughout the day. Proper support from your mattress gives you better pressure relief.
2. External factors — Too much caffeine and sugar too close to bedtime can interrupt sleep. So can light and noise.
3. Temperature — A room that’s too hot or too cold can keep you up at night. To help, some mattresses are designed with gel-infused foams and performance fabrics that keep you cool when you’re hot, warm when you’re cold.
4. Allergens — Keeping your mattress and pillows clean can help keep allergens and dust mites at bay. Clean your pillowcase covers regularly and replace pillows every year or two. Another help: The Yogabed mattress offers a zip-off washable cover so you can keep things clean and allergen free.
— NAPS
ProActive Sports Rehab, with offices in Hamburg and West Seneca, offers one-on-one physical therapy and rehabilitation services. For more information, please visit http://proactivesportsrehab.com or call 674-9600 (West Seneca office) or 648-8700 (Hamburg office). You can also follow ProActive Sports Rehab on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProActiveSportsRehab for frequent updates.
