How I Finally Prioritized My Sleep with Lull

Waking up slow in the morning and laying in bed a few minutes longer than you probably should is one of the most satisfying feelings a person can experience. The early morning air drifting in through the window, birds chirping, that dream-like half awareness of being not quite awake... It's enough to make anyone want to lay in bed all day. That is, if all your joints don't pop like a fresh roll of bubble wrap the second you roll back over.

On those mornings you wake up cracking like a glow stick, you may be more prone to carrying around muscle soreness, joint stiffness, and general tightness for the rest of the day. It's no surprise, really: the majority of all people have experienced back pain in some capacity or another, while 8% of adults experience chronic or persistent back pain. And if you're one of those people, trying to fall asleep and stay asleep becomes no small task—so much so that most of your day (and bank account) revolves around looking for different solutions for relief. After some serious research, a carefully planned sleep system, and with a lot of help from Lull, a premium memory foam mattress designed with your body in mind, it is possible for your endless nights of throbbing and aching to become a thing of the past.

Back pain is no joke.

Back pain can make everyday tasks near-impossible. If you’re someone who works a job that involves physical labor or long hours on your feet, even mild to moderate back pain can affect your livelihood. You may take longer than average breaks at work, or even seriously injure yourself in extreme conditions.

But even those of us with office jobs can feel the effects of a sore back. Picture this: you're bent over your keyboard, your shoulders are rolled down, neck craned forward, and hips well behind the rest of your body. You shift and you shimmy and no matter what you do, you just can't concentrate because your sciatic nerve is screaming. You go for a walk around the office, grab some coffee; before you know it, you lost a day's worth of work struggling from back pain that a good night's sleep could have solved. If this sounds like you, it’s time to finally start getting the quality sleep that you deserve.

There are a few potential causes that could be contributing to your discomfort. Chronic back pain—defined as back pain lasting constantly, or on-and-off consistently, for three months or longer—can be exacerbated by fatigue, poor fitness, smoking, and even poor mental health. But one of the most common—and most easily fixed—causes: your sleeping habits could be doing you more harm than good.

How your sleep affects your spine

It’s probably no surprise to you that how you physically sleep can have a major effect on your back pain. You’re spending hours at a time (eight of them, hopefully) on a mattress, largely in one position, with gravity pulling your body weight down towards your spine. So, the surface you’re sleeping on and the position you’re sleeping in both have a huge role to play.

First, it’s important to pay attention to your sleep position. Depending on your comfort, body type, and other health concerns, you can determine the position you should be sleeping in, and make efforts to change your habits accordingly.

Just as important as your sleep position is the surface you’re sleeping on. It’s been proven that a comfortable, but relatively firm mattress that promotes proper spine alignment is the best sleeping choice to prevent lower back pain. It’s important that the surface you sleep on isn’t so soft that it offers no support to your joints, but is not so firm that it puts unnecessary pressure on nerves and potential pain points. That’s why Lull Mattresses may provide relief for people experiencing soreness or joint pain, especially in the back; with a supportive base for alignment and a comfortable gel layer on the top, they are designed to be soft to the touch for comfort, but still be firm? and supportive where your body needs it most.

What might be less obvious, though, is that your quality of sleep, regardless of position, can also have a major effect on back pain. Without a good, uninterrupted eight hours a night, your body loses valuable time to heal itself; plus, fatigue and poor mental health or elevated stress can manifest themselves in physiological ways, like soreness in the lower back.

This means that if you’re experiencing chronic back pain, the solution really does need to be a holistic one—and the best thing you can do for your back pain all around is be sure that you’re getting enough, high-quality sleep. Here are a few less-expected steps you can take to help soothe serious backaches.

Be prepared for your rest.

The bottom line is, your body is meant to move. When you make an active effort to physically move every day, you relieve not only mental stress, but also pent-up physical tension you lug around with you—and you loosen up sore, achy muscles.

HIIT training, running, and swimming are among the most beneficial exercises you can do for your sleep, as they are proven to lower your resting heart rate, increase your lung capacity, and make you more tired than most other activities. But, if your back pain is particularly severe, these may be out of the question for you. If you’re able, even some gentle yoga before bedtime may provide relief with its wide variety of poses, which may soothe locked-up joints and knotted muscles.

A healthy sleep environment is crucial.

It should be no surprise that a cooler-than-average temperature provides the perfect climate for getting some serious Zzz's. Lull uses advanced sleep technology in the form of a gel-top layer on their premium mattresses that wicks away your body heat, meaning you’re more likely to stay cool throughout the night, and therefore more likely to stay asleep without feeling overheated.

It also helps to remove any distraction or disruption when you’re falling asleep, and throughout the night. Clean up your bedroom, or at least tidy the area around your bed, so it’s free of clutter. Then, put your phone or any other device that may go off throughout the night on do not disturb mode.

This also means mitigating any potential disruption from the other people in your home, and this is where your perfect mattress can help out, too. Lull Mattresses are crafted to guarantee even motion distribution, so you’re more likely to sleep through the odd midnight bathroom trip from your partner, or the early morning jumps from a hungry pet. The fewer interruptions in your sleep, the better rested you may be—which could permit your body to heal itself more effectively, or could make chronic pain feel less pronounced.

With all the options on the market for short-term solutions to back pain, like chiropractic appointments, pain medication, and exercise equipment, the best investment you could make might just be for where you spend nearly a third of your life: a new Lull Mattress. Not quite sure? Try Lull for 365 nights, risk-free and see for yourself why Lull has 98% customer satisfaction and over 40,000 raving reviews. Your body will soon remind you how good it feels to prioritize your rest.