Weekend healthy tips: Does your back hurt?
It's not just the mattress, its mostly you and your habits
Does your back hurt?
Well, of course, it does from time to time. So let’s make it hurt less frequent and less painfull?
You sprained your muscles. Or you slept funny. Of you sit weird all day.
Medics categorize back pain into 5 causes: Strains, Moved disks, Arthritis, Osteoporosis, and Spondylitis.
But these actually fall within 3 categories for nonmedical folk:
- impact - what you do with your body every day;
- physiological - how you are built from baby to now;
- genetic - what genes were you given (you know bees and butterflies).
Or, basically, some stuff you can control. Some you can influence. Some things you can actively work on so it does not progress faster.
Most of the back pain is due to impact. You pushed your body's limits too fast, too much, or too long. You can mostly blame yourself.
You did not turn that mattress (it was in the instructions) every two weeks. Because if you don’t the mattress become a coffin for your body.
You had too high of a pillow.
You slept funny.
You had to lift things the wrong way.
You did not warm up before going all in.
What can you do?
1) Exercise every morning and evening for 10 minutes; your back will do wonders. Do squats, bend overs, run on the spot, and pivot the body.
Yeah, yeah, check with your doctor first, but any exercise is better than no exercise. This will grease that old spine a little bit more evenly. And your muscle status will improve. Don't kill yourself doing it; 10 minutes in the morning and 10 in the evening is plenty, just do it every day.
Especially if you don't feel like it. Those are usually the days before back pain, aren't they?
Check youtube for some exercises, and pick one that you are comfortable with at the 10 minutes pace and your level. Don't go crazy. Go smart and consistent.
2) Try to balance your weight. All that pounds hurt the muscles and spine, do try to reduce the load a bit. Every pound helps, trust me. Working on your weight usually increases your muscles too.
3) Live, eat, and sleep a bit smarter. Let’s face it - you won’t change. At least not overnight. But you can do babysteps. Or even giggle steps. Even one cigarette less a day improves your back risk (it's complicated why, but it works). Drink one glass more water and one ounce less sugary, caffeinated drinks.
Especially in the afternoon. You know that coffee that keeps you awake? It puts your muscles in semi-cramps, too. They are too ready for more action. And this is a bad thing when you need to sleep.
Don't overeat junk food for dinner. Eat a tasty salad. By tasty, I mean choose a salad that is tasty for you. Grilled chicken on top is fine. Just make it more "green" than chickeny. Choose something you like and stick with it. You will repeat it for a long time.
Try to avoid drinking beer before sleep. Alcohol dehydrates your body. So although vitamin B is excellent, overall, you pee too much water. Muscles need water to chill and recover. Hydrate.
Additional Trick 1: take a magnesium supplement. I would recommend a Saffron + magnesium combination. It makes you sleep less stressed, and magnesium helps the muscles. For safffron, you can use this amazon link, for magnesium this amazon link.
Additional Trick 2: Make it a habit of going to sleep at the same time. Bad sleep habits stick to the bad back pain problem, and you have a mess.
Additional Trick 3: If you did buy in that commercial that you need a new mattress, buy a harder one. Mattresses are usually categorized for body weight. Take the harder of two options. And no fancy cheating stuff. Your back needs as much even ground as possible. You will adapt soon, even if it is uncomfortable at first.
So we were talking only about impact, right?
Well, wrong. Talk to your doctor, but the stuff above will help. Help lower risk, or slow down problems related to moved disks and genetic issues. It's just that some of that will not help you avoid getting an operation.
But you hit the jackpot if you can postpone it a couple of years.
Also, if you can, get an MR or CT once in a while. Just to be sure.
What you should avoid at all costs is doing crazy exercise a few times and then stopping. Do it every day in small amounts. 10 minutes is not a lot. And if that is a problem, do 5! But do it every day! Your spine will be grateful.
And if you have a sitting work job. Do those 5 minutes during lunch break too. It might look funny, but if you are consistent, you will get followers, trust me 😉 Back pain is an epidemic.
