Chronic pain can make daily tasks seem impossible, and one of the most common areas of your life affected by chronic pain is your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. For many people, they need to relearn how to achieve quality sleep because it no longer comes naturally thanks to their pain condition. In today’s blog, we share some tips for relearning how to get restful sleep, because quality sleep plays an important role in controlling chronic pain.

Getting A Good Night’s Sleep With Chronic Pain

Here are some tips for falling asleep and staying asleep if you deal with a chronic pain condition.

1. Regular Bed Time – Get in the habit of going to bed around the same time every night. You body has what’s known as a circadian rhythm that helps regulate awake and tired periods for your body, and if you get up and go to bed around the same time, this will help you body find a good circadian rhythm. Even if you struggle to fall asleep right away, going to bed and laying down around the same time at night will help your internal body clock.

2. Lose The Distractions – The bedroom needs to be a place for sleeping, not for reading on your iPad or clicking around on Netflix. Research has shown that the bright lights of screens in dark rooms can stimulate our brain at a time when we want to be winding down. Read or watch TV out in the living room so that the bedroom becomes a place where you focus on achieving quality sleep.

3. Avoid Caffeine and Alcohol – In the hours before bed, avoid certain liquids that can inhibit restful sleep, like caffeine and alcohol. Even though alcohol may help you fall asleep, it disrupts your ability to achieve REM sleep, the deep and quality type of sleep you need to receive. Avoid these liquids as the sun begins to set.

4. Water Intake – If you’re looking for something to drink, go with water, but make sure you’re cognizant about your water intake. If you’re even slightly dehydrated when you go to bed, it can cause your mouth and nasal passages to become dry and lead to disruptive snoring. However, drinking too much water can lead to the need to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Play around with your water intake in the hours leading up to bed so you are hydrated when you crawl into bed.

5. Temperature and Noise – Finally, the key to quality sleep is to stay asleep once you’re out. You don’t have a lot of control over this, but you can help by ensuring your bedroom has the right temperature and noise level. Keep the room cool and use blankets to get comfortable, and find out if noise helps or hinders your ability to fall asleep. Some people like white noise machines, others like the drum of a fan, while others need complete silence. See what helps you fall asleep and stay asleep, and then recreate those conditions each night.

For more tips on falling asleep if you have chronic pain, or for help with your specific pain condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.