Starting your day with a sore neck may cause you some increased frustration, exhaustion, and grumpiness throughout your day. Thankfully, some easy practices can help reduce or even prevent that neck pain and keep you feeling loose and relaxed night and day! Here are a few that are sure to help you out.
Use a Better Pillow
First of all, make sure you are getting good sleep with a good pillow! Believe it or not, just your pillow can make all the difference in the strain (or relaxation) of your neck muscles. If yours is too high, your neck will bend uncomfortably forward; too low, and the neck will not be getting enough support which can strain the muscles uncomfortably. Some studies suggest that the perfect pillow height is around four inches, as this allows for the ideal mixture of muscle support and helps circulation.
Furthermore, the way you sleep (as in, the position you sleep in) is also a factor in what kind of pillow you should use. If you sleep on your back, your pillow should provide uniform support for your whole neck and head. If you sleep on your side, your pillow should be soft enough in the middle that your head can sink in a little, allowing your spine to remain straight.
Wear a Mouthguard When you Sleep
It may sound like a stretch, but your teeth may be the source of some of your neck pain. Grinding your teeth can make them more sensitive. It can also put intense strain on your jaw, which is attached to neck muscles. Basically, your jaw’s overworking will pull on neck muscles and cause that irritating soreness. To prevent this strain, wear a mouthguard! Mouthguards provide a soft buffer between your teeth, reducing the pressure on your teeth and jaws significantly and therefore also reducing the stress on your neck muscles.
Daily Stretching
Often, people (maybe yourself included) spend a large part of their day doing monotonous tasks for their jobs or schooling or whatever else their routines require. These tasks often stiffen necks to the point that they struggle to relax at all! This makes soreness inevitable after trying to sleep on an already stiff neck. You can help loosen and relax your neck muscles throughout the day by frequently stretching it out, or changing up those monotonous tasks more frequently so that the stiffness doesn’t set in so deeply.
Add these simple changes to your daily or nightly routines, and your neck will thank you. Wake up feeling loose, relaxed, and ready to take on your day!
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