5 Interesting Ways to Prevent Wrinkles and Avoid Neck Pain While You Sleep
Sleep is one of the most important ways to help your body, and this includes all parts of your body, from the brain inside your head to the tips of your toes. You’ve heard it called ‘beauty sleep’ but did you also know that a person who is well-rested has a better chance of avoiding chronic musculoskeletal pain?
It turns out not only the way you sleep, but also the amount of sleep you get at night can help reduce wrinkles and help ease neck and back pain. Here we will look at 5 surprising ways that the way you sleep can help prevent and reduce wrinkles and ease neck pain.
1. Sleep Position
The best position to avoid neck pain in your sleep, according to the expert physiotherapists is to sleep on your back or on your side. It turns out this is also the position most recommended by dermatologists to help avoid facial wrinkles.
It is important to have neck support while you sleep, but sleeping on your stomach puts a strain on your spine and turns your neck, which can cause strain over time. A side position has better support for your neck. Sleeping on your stomach also puts pressure on your face and can cause sleep lines, which over time can turn into fine lines and wrinkles.
2. Pillow
If you can’t change your sleep position, the next best thing is to find a pillow that can properly support your head and neck. A feather pillow or one made from “memory foam” will conform to the shape of your neck, giving you support where you need it most.
You can also find a pillow that helps you to sleep on your back. These special pillows reduce the contact between your face and the pillow and help to support your neck and head. A travel pillow, the kind you often see for sale at airport gift shops is also an inexpensive way to get neck support and keep you from turning onto your front while you sleep.
3. Pillow case
One aspect of your sleeping you may not have considered is your pillowcase and the type of material it is made from. Most pillowcases are made from cotton or a blend of polyester and cotton. This can pull on your face and cause traction resulting in wrinkles when you sleep.
The dermatologists at Clarity Medspa and Laser Centre, leading providers of non-surgical treatment in Toronto, recommend changing to a silk or satin pillowcase instead of a cotton pillowcase. The silk or satin produces less friction against your skin, so you slide right off instead of crushing your skin into it. It is also important to change your pillowcase regularly to help reduce oil and dirt breakouts.
4. Amount of Sleep
Research has shown that there is a direct relationship between a lack of sleep and increases in inflammation in the body. Inflammation is also linked to chronic pain and serious cardiac and respiratory diseases. There is also a link between people who have sleep difficulty and those who develop chronic musculoskeletal pain later on in life.
What does this mean? It means sleep is important. Your body depends on getting an adequate amount of sleep to regulate everything from hormones to healing. It could be that disruptions in sleep mean a disruption in the healing process – leading to increased pain and discomfort.
Sleep also helps your skin look and feel fresh and revitalized. They don’t call it beauty sleep for nothing.
5. Moisturizing Night Cream
If you’ve changed your sleeping position to your back and got a supportive pillow and are determined to put yourself to bed early to get enough beauty (and health) sleep, there is one more way you can help reduce wrinkles on your face and that is with a night cream.
Night creams are intensely hydrating lotions that you apply to your face at bedtime. The theory is they work to make your skin soft and supple while you sleep and can be more intense because no one has to see you while you sleep.
Use these 5 tips to help prevent fine lines and wrinkles and decrease your neck pain while you sleep.