Tricks to Sleep Better

Fibromyalgia Dilemma: Tips and Tricks to Sleep Better

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that is primarily associated with extreme level of consistent widespread body pain including the muscles and joints tenderness. The pain remains too intense that it creates difficulty in falling and staying asleep during the night. As a result of persistent sleepless nights, the fibro affected person is likely to develop many other health symptoms.

However, with some smart moves and by following some effective tips to sleep better with fibromyalgia health condition possibility lies that its patient can lead a more comfortable life by getting peaceful sleep during nights. These tips and tricks will not only enable the fibro patient to manage their daily life routine in a much easier way than before but also prevents the flare-ups with this disease.

It is true that fibromyalgia and insomnia issues go hands in hand as everyday body pain and extreme level of fatigue keep the patient in restless condition. And with this kind of restlessness in body and mind, it is extremely tough to get the snooze on time. At one level the pain and fatigue get so extreme that its patient is bound to crawl in order to reach up to the bed after finishing the dinner.

Women aging between 30 to 50 are the more common victims of this chronic health disorder. However, it can affect to both genders at any stage of life. The worst part of this disease is that there is no known cure in order to treat its chronic symptoms and more often the patients require having supplementation of vitamins and minerals to get enough nutrient and energy levels for their body.

Along with all other physical level difficulties the worst part of this disease is seen when it interferes with your quality of sleep and the restless nights make the pain intensity much worst. So insomnia along with extreme body pain and fatigue took a toll on its patient’s health. To get rid of these difficulties today we have come up with some effective tips and suggestions that will help the fibromyalgia patients in improving their sleep quality if they follow them persistently.

Symptoms

Before knowing the tips that will help you in coping with your fibromyalgia symptoms as well as getting peaceful sleep during nights it is important that you have a clear understanding regarding all common symptoms of this chronic disease. The fibromyalgia affected patient generally develops following signs or symptoms-

  • Tenderness in muscles and bones.
  • Widespread pain
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Numbness or tingling sensation in the hands and feet
  • Painful menstrual cycle experience than the usual or normal cycles before this disease
  • Digestive health issues such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) etc.
  • Cognitive or memory issues, also known as Fibro Fog

9 Tips on How to Sleep Better

Create and Maintain a Fixed Routine

Set a fixed sleeping and waking-up schedule for yourself and maintain it strictly without failing at any cost. This fixed created routine will strengthen the circadian rhythm in your body that is the natural process that regulates the sleep and waking-up cycle and repeats every 24 hours. That means your body will automatically give a signal to sleep at your daily fixed sleeping time and you will automatically wake up in the morning at the same time which you are maintaining persistently from the last few days.

Also in order to get sleep on time during night hour avoid taking long hours naps during the day time as it will make it harder for you to fall asleep on the fixed time that you have planed leading to interruption in your circadian rhythm. This trick is really very effective for people who are struggling very hard from the insomnia problem caused by fibromyalgia disease.

Switch Off All Electronic Gadgets

You cannot expect a sound sleep if you sleep in the mid of different running electronic gadgets like your mobile, iPad, laptop, and TV. The notification sound of a message or a call or sound from your un-switched TV can break your sleep at any point in time during the night when you will probably having a very deep sleep.

So to cope up with your night hour awakening problem that makes other symptoms of fibromyalgia disease much worst make sure that you turn off all gadgets that you have in your home especially in your bedroom. It’s better that you keep away your smartphone from your bed as its closeness may tempt you during the night to open up and check any new message or any other notification.

Avoiding these temptation mediums can be proved as an effective step for establishing a fixed sleeping pattern and preventing the night hour awakening issue that often makes your widespread body pain much severe. Instead of that, you can read a good book before sleep as this is a good way of getting restful sleep throughout the night.

Practice Some Soothing Activities

It simply feels impossible to sleep with persistent body ache and chronic fatigue signs in the body. So, in this case, the only thing that can work for you is relaxation of your brain and body in any possible ways that suits your case. Some of the body relaxation activities include a gentle body massage, breathing exercise, meditation (if your body is still in a position to sit in a stable position), aromatherapy and cooling and calming surrounding.

A gentle full body massage just before bed will not only help in alleviating your widespread body pain but it will also calm down your nerves to attain a peaceful state needed for a quality sleep

during nights. The breathing exercise practices will help in diverting your mind from your pain areas to an ideal state where you can feel the relaxation and peace that helps you in falling and staying asleep for the whole night.

Aromatherapy is another effective way to cope up with the insomnia issues triggered by the Fibromyalgia health issue. It will easily take your mind into the deep relaxation state that will help you in getting sleep easily.

Exercise Every Day

It is really hard for a person who is suffering from the fibromyalgia symptoms to even imagine about practicing exercise but this really works. With regular fixed schedule of exercise even though it may feel extremely tough in the initial days but it is really beneficial for your health as it not only stimulates your metabolism level which gets sluggish due to this health issue but also reduces your body ache to ensure that you can lead your daily life routine in much better form including to sleep peacefully during nights.

However, you should not think of workout beyond your capacity level as this will toll your health badly. Instead, focus on light forms of exercise routines that your body can easily sustain even in the mid of constant body pain. Some simple activities can also form a part of your daily fitness regimen such as walking, swimming, cycling, climbing stairs, playing with kids, etc.

When you will get regular in your exercise routine its positive effect you will definitely experience by falling asleep easily at nights and having a sound sleep every night without much difficulty. However, make sure that your exercise schedule is not 2 to 3 hours before your bedtime as this can stimulate your energy level making it harder to fall asleep and will keep you restless for the whole night.

Get Treatment of Other Conditions

Many time it is seen that the sleeping deprivation problem faced by the fibromyalgia patients are not solely because of its symptoms but many underlying other health conditions too. Until and unless these underlying issues will be treated it is not possible for you to get peaceful sleep during nights.

One of the common peripheral conditions that affect the sleeping quality of the fibromyalgia sufferer is restless leg syndrome. This health concern is mainly associated with symptoms like an irresistible urge to move legs. As this symptom primarily develops in the evening time so it is likely to disrupt the sleeping quality. This issue gets worsen with age. So it is important to get thorough treatment of this peripheral condition so that you can cope up with the sleeping deprivation problem.

Avoid Taking Antagonistic Foods before Bed

You cannot expect to get a good night’s sleep by having an antagonistic food or drink such as coffee, tea, alcohol, etc. These drinks contain stimulants so your body and brain will not get the level of calmness that is required before your bedtime to easily fall asleep.

Tea and coffee are rich with caffeine which primarily helps in waking up and used by those who willingly need to stay wake up for long for certain purposes. Similarly, those who preferably drink alcohol before bed face immense difficulty in getting sleep on time. Also, this can cause midnight awakening issue which is really terrific especially if you are a patient of fibromyalgia.

Apart from these drinks, one activity can make your sleep deprive and that is the habit of sleeping with empty stomach means without having the dinner meal. When your stomach will remain hungry it will automatically make you awake at midnight even though somehow you managed to sleep on time.

Instead of that, you can have light carbohydrate-rich snacks before bed as this will help you in falling and staying asleep for the whole night easily. However, avoid having a heavy meal or snacks during the night as this can cause the bloating issue which is another sleeps sabotaging condition.

Avoid Oversleeping in the Morning

It is likely to feel temptation for a few extra hours of sleep in the morning if you are a fibromyalgia patient. This urge develops because in general, the fibromyalgia patient has to suffer from early morning fatigue issues.

So by sleeping some extra duration, they want to overcome this common morning time concern. However, this short term benefit can make you pay off a very heavy cost by keeping you restless during the night by keeping you sleep deprive which will make you more panic. Long hours of sleep in the morning causes shallow and fragment rest during nights.

For the same reason, it is advised to the fibromyalgia suffers to avoid taking day time nap as this short term relaxation proves very heavy when you face extreme difficulty in falling and staying asleep soundly.

Keep Your Bedroom Area Dark

One of the most convenient thing that you can do to ensure that your night hours spend in a deep sleep without any break in between by keeping your bedroom area pitch dark when it’s your bedtime. When your bedroom remains perfectly dark and without any fear of light turning on in between for any purpose then your mind can feel that level of peace needed for getting quality sleep for the whole night.

In order to ensure the dark healthy sleeping environment in your bedroom, you can use room-darkening shades, cover all light sources and set the alarm time carefully so that it only rang on time when you desire to wake up. Always close your window with curtains so that your sleep won’t break before your waking time due to the first ray of sun.

May Be Your Bed is Culprit

Before pinpointing any other factor first look at your bed, chances remain that your bed is causing disturbances in your sleep. The fibromyalgia patients often have to suffer from severe joint ache which causes excessive difficulty not only in falling asleep but break sleep at midnight due to joint ache.

This pain concern gets worst if you sleep on a soft bed because your joints need support for relaxation and this is not possible when you sleep on a cushion bed. As per the health specialist, the fibromyalgia patient should sleep on a memory mattress as this suit perfect as per their health condition’s specific requirement.

This particular mattress puts less pressure on your muscles and this exertion limit is too low on your joint which is ideal for a relaxing sleep during the night. However, while selecting this mattress pick only the gel foam which absorbs the body heat giving comfort to the sleeper.

There is no doubt that the fibromyalgia patient has to undergo a major dilemma regarding all aspects of this severe disease. Out of different associated troubles of this disease, insomnia is considered the major one as this makes the other troubles of this health concern worst. However, if you will remain consistent with our above-mentioned tips to sleep better with fibromyalgia and suggestion then surely you will benefit with a positive result in terms of a good night’s sleep every night.

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