Waking Up Stiff

by Lalit Gupta
(New Delhi)

Sleeping Positions And Use of Pillows

I wake up very stiff. I am able to do anything at all only after 11 am. It does not matter what time I sleep. I feel it is due to bad sleeping positions. I use a high pillow and sometimes without pillow. Nothing helps. Please advise.

Answer

Try to eat early dinner and do some rhythmic breathing or ujjayi breaths before sleeping. You can use a light pillow and try to sleep preferably in the supine position. Getting a deep sleep is most important requirement for you. If the sleep is disturbed, the body is not able to relax completely at night and may result in stiffness.

There can be so many reasons for the stiffness. This is most likely due to lack of exercise, lower fitness level, lack of adequate sleep or poor quality of sleep. Hope you are not having any problem of cervical spondylysis.

Are you doing any regular exercise? I think doing yoga daily will resolve your problems.

Try to do the following for four weeks:-
~ Do regular yoga, meditation and yoga nidra.
~ Eat a balanced sattvik diet.
~ Get good nights sleep.
~ Eat a low calorie and early dinner.

Hope this will help.
Daljit