From general discomfort to finding yourself unable to take part in treasured hobbies, mobility issues can present a wide range of problems. Even sleeping can become a lot harder. If you aren’t getting enough shut-eye, you’ll start to feel your mental faculties decline, and your mobility issues may become worse as your body isn’t being given the chance to heal each night.
With that in mind, here are just a few ways to sleep better when you suffer from mobility issues.
Elevate Your Legs
One of the best things you can do for your body is elevate your legs. This helps any excess fluid drain away from your extremities, and blood will be able to flow more easily across your legs and feet. At the same time, you’ll alleviate pressure on your joints, and it’s this that should make it easier to sleep. Excess pressure on the joints causes discomfort, and such discomfort naturally makes it a lot harder to fall asleep and stay asleep.Traditionally, the legs were elevated simply by placing some pillows beneath them. Nowadays, you can purchase special adjustable beds which allow you to adjust your position.
Avoid Late-Night Snacks
It’s no secret that having a little midnight feast or eating as you watch TV before bed can be a very tough temptation to ignore, but ignore it you should, especially if your mobility issues often make it hard to sleep. Unfortunately, those snacks cause blood to be diverted to the digestive system. That can disrupt sleep regardless of whether you suffer from mobility issues, and the fact that blood is diverted away from the muscles and joints means they don’t have a chance to heal.
Invest in a New Mattress
The old spring mattress can still be fine, but they tend to become lumpy and uneven after a year or two. Even if that doesn’t happen, they simply don’t distribute your weight as evenly as a mattress made from latex or memory foam. This is serious for those with mobility issues since uneven weight distribution can aggravate joint and muscle pain. Help yourself out by ditching the old mattress in favour of something newer and better.
