Sleep alone has numerous benefits over the health of an individual. Ample sleep can help heighten the benefits and progress you experience during physical therapy recovery. It places your mind and body in the best position possible to heal. Let’s take a look at how sleep and physical therapy are linked and what you can do to improve your sleep, thus improving your recovery process. 

Relationship Between Sleep and Physical Therapy

When you sleep, your body restores and repairs tissues. This can decrease pain, alleviate stress, regulate your immune system and help your brain process information better. Quite literally, your body is recovering from sleep alone. When you combine that with physical therapy, you are combining necessary rest with strength to amplify focus, pain recovery, and overall health. Sleep also helps your muscles recover in between exercising, so it allows you to have the energy and focus needed during physical therapy Rexburg.

Tips to Improve Sleep

It can be hard to see drastic improvements in your physical therapy if you are not getting adequate sleep every night. There are many factors, such as stress, sickness, chronic pain, sleep disorders, or just the busyness of everyday life, that contribute to poor sleep. To minimize these problems and better your sleeping habits, here are some things you can do:

• Limit Screen Time: More often than not, you can be up scrolling on your phone for hours and not even realize what time it is. Then, you have obligations the next day that you cannot sleep through, causing you to miss out on good hours of sleep. Consider putting your phone away 30 minutes before you want to go to sleep so your mind isn’t constantly stimulated into the late hours of the night. 

• Make a Schedule: Try to stick to a schedule of going to bed and waking up around the same time every day. This will help your body become used to this sleep cycle and make it easier to fall asleep and wake up. 

• Fuel Your Body with Nutrients: It is important to notice the kinds of food and drinks you are putting into your body. If you notice something is heavily affecting your sleep, such as energy drinks or sugary foods, avoid having those right before bed and try limiting your intake. 

• Meditate: If you get overly worried or experience racing thoughts as you are trying to go to sleep, try meditating. This will help calm your mind and relax all of the muscles in your body. 
• Have a Calm Environment: It is much easier to fall asleep in a cool, quiet, dark place than a bright and loud one. If you can’t control the whole environment, such as the house, try to control the exact space you are in. Try using an eye mask or earplugs for extra comfort. 

Implementing these simple but effective tips to improve sleep will not only tremendously improve your overall health, but your physical therapy recovery as well. 

Published by: Khy Talara