Reduce Back Pain With Sleep Stretching (Night Yoga)

A few months ago I was waking up with an impossibly uncomfortably stiff and sore back. I thought it may be our mattress, which was a few years old and less firm than I typically slept with.

The back problems were eased by stretching and warming up, which indicated a muscular problem. Thankfully, I didn’t have to invest another couple grand into a mattress, but the morning stretches didn’t quite solve the issue as the back pain and stiffness persisted.

I determined that my sleep position was the likely culprit. I had started sleeping on my stomach with my head to the right to alleviate indigestion. Soon after the back pain started.

According to Back Rack, this is often problematic:

The main culprit and the most obvious reason of your morning back pain is most likely an improper sleeping posture. Poor position during sleep can put a pressure on your spine, causing it to flatten. This can cause a strain in the back and put pressure on the joints of the back. The most likely position to cause trouble is sleeping face-down.

I haven’t been one to stretch throughout the day and I never got into yoga but clearly I need to stretch. I figured that there were about 8 hours a day I could be stretching that were going to waste.

I was able to kill all these birds with one stone by starting my sleep in the fetal position.

When getting into the fetal position, I feel my lower back stretching out. After a few minutes, I don’t feel it anymore, which is a good sign. Eventually, this position becomes uncomfortable, but the longer I can do it, the better I feel the next day.

I also have a position where I start in the fetal position on my right side and turn my upper body to the left so that my head is directed more upward. This really stretches the lower back but I typically can’t keep it up for long: