Welcome to Tip number six. How do you sleep? And how do you adjust your body so that you're comfortable in bed. Our body recovers and regenerates when we're having a nice deep sleep, who doesn't want to wake up feeling refreshed and energized in the morning. If you've read Ian's story, you'll know that he had five herniated lumbar discs and excruciating pain for a good six to eight months before he finally went for surgery. Now that's not the path that everybody is going to take.

But it is important to try to support your body enough so that you can get a good night's sleep. And Ian being my life partner, I remember those evenings where he was in such discomfort that tears were streaming down his eyes because he just couldn't get a good comfortable position in bed. So what we want to share with you here is how you can support your body in such a way where your spine is aligned and there's no pressure either on the lower back, the mid back or the upper back, depending on the type of discomfort that you might be having right now, so that you can get into a good position to get a good night's sleep. Now, we want to prepare for sleep as well. It's not something that just happens like that. If I were to tell you Okay, friends, Let's lie down and have a good sleep, go sleep.

We need to prepare so dim lighting in your bedroom, perhaps a cooler room temperature. Make sure that there's no electronics around the bed. We're used to using clock radios and cell phones and iPads and laptops. But that's really not ideal. And that blue light from those screens does affect us going into a deep sleep cycle. So try to avoid technology at least an hour before bed.

We also recommend making sure that you eat lighter, maybe just a light snack an hour before bed but avoid eating a heavy meal three hours before going to bed. Just the effect of deep digestion, your body is also going to have difficulty going into a deep sleep. So these are some tips that we want to share with you and we'll demonstrate how to set up your bed with the right amount of pillows to support your own body so you can try it out for yourself and get a good night's sleep that you deserve. This tip is about getting a good night's sleep when you have back pain. It's so important to get a good night's sleep to repair and recover overnight. Yet when we're in pain, it's sometimes hard to find a comfortable position to actually get a good night's sleep.

We want to share with you some back tips on how to get a good night's sleep and how to position yourself in bed. If you're considering a new mattress which sometimes is a good start, choose a medium differ mattress. We've chosen over the last couple of years to get a latex mattress which we find very supportive for our backs. If you're a back sleeper, consider placing pillows underneath the knees. If you're a side sleeper, consider placing the pillows between the knees, and even perhaps in front or behind the back, depending on the severity of your discomfort. So let's take a look at those now.

Right now, Ian is lying on his back. He's not ideally supported for his lower back. What we would suggest for a back sleeper is to place either a couple of cushions or a yoga bolster, we actually use a yoga both yoga bolster like this in our bed. So take a look. If Ian bends his knees, we would position this underneath the knees. Depending on the severity of the discomfort, or even pain, those knees might be raised a little bit higher.

When he was in his crisis mode, even pre and post his back operation, he used about six to eight cushions for his body to support him in bed. So we could also add other pillows here. So move slowly, so that you feel you know comfortable getting into the position as well. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to find that level of comfort where you can be fully supported that takes the strain and tension out of the back. Now the head and neck should be supported also on a firm pillow to respect the natural curves in the neck area, and the arms alongside of the body. We encourage before going to sleep to take some slow deep breaths into the abdomen to encourage the body to go into deeper relaxation.

So if you're the back sleeper, what are we really achieving here by using the cushions underneath the knees, the higher the knees just like we do in the crisis exercise position that we've showed you in previous lifestyle tips. Is that it starts to open up the lumbar spine and the facet joints in the spine to create more space between those joints, which takes the pressure off of the any pinch in that pinching that might be happening. Now Ian had disc herniation. So he brought his knees at times up to 90 degrees in bed. So the height of your legs will depend also on your level of comfort, so very slowly here and it will bring your legs up a bit higher. So it may also look something like this.

So we're using three cushions. You may need anywhere between one pillow to five or six pillows or as I mentioned, the Yule yoga bolster which is firmer and higher, just takes the strain out of the low spine. So here you have a couple of ideas if you are a back sleeper. If you're a side sleeper, we'll demonstrate on how to position the pillows and there's a few different ways you can do this. And it's very personal depending on your own level of comfort. So we'll ask you To roll over onto his side ideally when we're in crisis mode or we're feeling vulnerable or having any form of discomfort or pain in the back, as we do in our full men my back program to show you the back end recovery module.

Ideally we want to respect the natural curves in the spine that we call neutral spine. We want to support the spine in that way when we're lying in bed to take the strain off of the joints. If the neck is an issue, make sure that you have a firm pillow there are pillows that are designed for side sleepers. For back sleepers, we don't recommend sleeping on your belly if you have any form of back discomfort, although sometimes placing a cushion underneath the abdomen or the hips. If that's the only way you can sleep would be an option to support it. So a side sleeper here we would recommend that Ian bend the knees a little bit towards this chest gently and that starts to open up also the lumbar joints are the facet joints in the lumbar spine and will also place cushion between the knees.

Now this is different men and women will have a different height. The joint angle between the hip and the knee is different as women's pelvic position is a little bit different. So me and Ian may just need one or two smaller pillows between the knee to line him his hips and his knees up so that he feels comfortable. Okay, I see that that knee is a little bit low still. So we would try adding a second pillow, and that's level of comfort. And does that feel more supportive as well?

So definitely go by feel so technically, this looks good for Ian, does that feel comfortable for you? Okay. Now, Ian, maybe you want to demonstrate when you are in crisis mode of feeling very much pain. This is a way that just supports your body on a day to day basis if you still have low back vulnerability and you wake up with a stiff back, but sometimes we're in that crisis mode, where we need to support the body a little bit more to avoid rolling forward are back in our sleep which then can contribute to that pain that wakes us up. So, in Do you want to perhaps show with the bolster how you position yourself and I think also used another cushion. So we have another pillow here beside you positioning the shoulders hugging a large pillow, you can purchase long body pillows, the yoga pillows are great, or just additional latex pillows are also firm to support the body here.

Now, it may be a good idea to place an additional cushion behind the back just at the hip level. So that just gives you a signal when you're rolling over that you feel supported and it might keep you in the same position because the pain can sometimes wake you up at night. We want to try to avoid too much moving that can trigger that pain, because it's when we get the deep night a good night's sleep in a deep sleep that the body then regenerates and restores itself. And that's what gives us the Energy and the focus to be able to get through our next day. So sleep is really important. So these are some examples of how you can support yourself with anywhere between one pillow to six pillows in the front in the back between the knees if you are a side sleeper here as well.

We also found another pillow that we really like this is one that I use. When I'm sleeping on my side, I'm generally a back sleeper and I sleep with a yoga bolster underneath my knees and my head propped up on one pillow and I'm comfortable that way and I fall asleep and wake up in exactly the same position. If I'm reading a book at night, I'll use this also just underneath my neck to support my head but I don't sleep with that under my neck. This is one that I'll use in between the knees. So as an option we'll just show you. This handy pillow is quite versatile.

So it has a strap on it. We can place it right over the thigh if you're somebody who moves. Otherwise, just placing it somewhere either between the knees so it lines up the knees, in which case I'm Seeing that the ankle angle is a bit different than the knee angle. So you can just lift your ankle here and we could also place a pillow like that. Does that feel more supportive? Okay, so anywhere of having the cushion between the knees between the thighs, but make sure that you're lining up your ankle, your knee and your hip joint, and that will create a more supportive position, taking the pressure off of your spine.