If spine pain is making it hard for you to fall asleep or stay asleep, a surgical procedure may be able to help. That said, you may still find it difficult to achieve restful sleep in the days and weeks after your operation as your body recovers from surgery. In today’s blog, we share some tips for improving your sleep quality as you recover from a recent spine surgery.
Improving Sleep Quality After Spine Surgery
It’s not always easy to fall asleep and stay asleep if your body is working hard to heal itself after the trauma of surgery, so consider these tips if you want to make it a little easier to achieve restful sleep.
- Medication Management – Painkillers can make it a little easier to drown out pain and fall asleep. If you are prescribed painkillers or NSAIDs after your operation, get in the habit of taking your medication an hour or so before you plan to head to bed. This will help give the medication time to kick in. If you take it right as you’re laying down, it could take a bit before relief kicks in. Plan ahead with your medication and take it well in advance of bedtime.
- High Quality Sleep Environment – Most people, regardless of whether or not they suffer from back pain, do not have high quality sleep environments. Maybe they like to play around on their phone while lying in bed or fall asleep with the television on. Lights and other distractions take away from a quality sleep environment. Make the bedroom a place where you try to fall asleep, not a place where you do other things as you eventually fall asleep. Make the room cool, dark and limit electronics use. If you’re going to watch television or play around on your phone, do it in the living room so your body knows when you head to your bedroom, your only goal is to get some sleep.
- Limit Food and Caffeine Before Bed – Eating food or consuming caffeine before bed can make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. A full belly can more easily contribute to uncomfortable acid reflux if you’re lying horizontally, and caffeine acts as a stimulant to the central nervous system. Small snacks and water are best before bed.
- Talk With Your Surgeon – Depending on your incision site, it may be easier to fall asleep if you’re sleeping in one position compared to another. Talk to your surgeon about which sleeping positions are best as your back and your incision site heal after your operation. Obviously find whatever is most comfortable for you, but a discussion with your surgeon can make it easier to find a comfortable and supportive sleeping position.
- Consistency – Finally, help your body get into a natural sleeping rhythm by striving to go to bed and wake up around the same time each day. Your body does best when it gets in a consistent routine, so try not to vary your sleep schedule too much. Some people are pretty good about this, but for others it will require a concentrated effort to head to bed at the same time each night. Make it happen so you have a better chance at achieving quality sleep, especially after spine surgery.
For more tips on how you can improve your sleep quality after spine surgery, reach out to Dr. Sinicropi’s office today.
