Unfortunately, many people suffer from back pain. The current reality is that over 60% of people in the United States are going to suffer at least one bout of severe back pain at some point in their life. And the likelihood of that is dramatically going up with the increased risk in prevalence of diabetes and obesity. And so I often hear patients complaining about their back hurting their neck hurting their shoulders hurting and wanting to know what they need to do to eliminate that or alleviate that problem while they sleep. And a couple questions come to my mind and it's one of the things I always ask my patients, how old is your bed and how old are your pillows, people will trade in their cars, their clothes, their shoes when they wear out but very rarely do people actually invest in a bed. Comfort truly matters.

I'm not going to get all nerdy if you will, but thread count and comfort of the sheets and the Comforter is important. You spend a 30 year life in bed and so why not be comfortable you're not going to wear a pair of jeans that are digging And grinding and uncomfortable all day long. So why would you sleep on a comfortable bed and uncomfortable pillow and horrible scratchy sheets, it doesn't make any sense. Understand that physiology impacts things. Obviously, with age comes aches and pains. But it doesn't have to necessarily be that way.

And I'll share some tips and ways to hack that in just a moment. And obviously, Stress Stress plays a huge impact and how we feel we're achy, we're sore, we're tired. And just coming up with some strategies and some mindfulness techniques that I talked about in the course, really make a huge difference in terms not only asleep, but how you feel when you're sleeping. And when you wake up in the morning in terms of stiffness and soreness and aches and pains. 25% Your life is in bed, I want you to really consider investing in a mattress. I often hear this from people that well I got a new mattress and it's worse than the old one.

You know, I spent a good chunk of money on it, but you know, I paid for it and I'm just gonna suck it up and sleep on it for 10 years. And that's what's called an economic turn. terms sunk costs, you're basically throwing good money after bad or in this case, you're throwing a chance of good sleep after the sunk cost the money you've already spent. And it's a hard shift to get away from that mindset. But fortunately, there are some companies that are out there now that will let you trial mattresses, not just for a week or two, but for an extended period of time. That really gives you an idea if the mattress is right for you.

And so I encourage you, just to Google Search some of that I'm not going to share a bunch of companies. I don't have any affiliations with any of those, but they're certainly out there. And the other is just to take care of yourselves. we're so busy worrying about our jobs, our careers, corporate America, our kids and that's just the reality of life. But I really encourage you to just exercise some self care whether that's massage or stretching, yoga, taking some supplements like magnesium or Epsom salt, spouse, variety of ways to manage your stress. And to help minimize some of the negative impact that stress has on all of us.

It's inescapable, but It's not something that you cannot address and be proactive about. The other thing is I encourage my patients to brace themselves and what I mean by that is to consider where the source of the pain is coming from. Do you have a neck issue? Do you have a postural issue from being seated at your desk all day if you can get a stand up desk, but the mechanics of the spine when they're in the bed has a huge impact on our comfort level, and how we feel in the wake up and so you know, for example, if you're a side sleeper, consider getting a pillow between your legs to kind of Prop your your knees and your hips into a more neutral alignment. Understand that the height of your pillows going to impact the way your neck and your shoulders feel. So if you're sleeping on a huge pillow, and your neck is sort of flex to the side that puts a lot of strain on your cervical spine, in the neck muscles.

And so just be cautious and cognizant of how you lie in just supporting yourself. You know, you can get different shapes of pillows, orthopedic pillow pillows, memory foam. There's a lot of different options out there. I can't give you a specific case. answer because I'm not looking at you and seeing how you sleep. But just be aware that you know, getting the $6 pillow off the big box retailer shelf and calling it good.

It's probably not going to help you if you're somebody who suffers from some musculoskeletal pain and some trouble sleeping. I talked in the previous slide about some supplements. I'm a huge believer in magnesium. It's evolved in so many processes in the body, including muscle relaxation. tumeric thousands of years of use of this, there's plenty of scientific data coming out now, in regards to its anti inflammatory properties, something that I use myself as an endurance athlete, it certainly makes a difference in my life. So just take those points to heart.

The take home point here is invest in yourself in terms of proper mattress, pillow experiments and really learn to manage and deal with your stress.