Your Body Might Be Secretly Sabotaging Your Sleep

Pillow

A curved, cushiony memory foam one supports your neck and keeps your spine straight. Try Sleep Innovations Contour Memory Foam Pillow ($33, amazon.com)

Mattress

A medium-firm type will keep your spine, head, neck, and shoulders in a straight line. Our experts like Saatva Luxury Firm ($999, saatvamattress.com) and Tuft & Needle Adaptive Foam ($575, amazon.com). How to Treat Shin Splints.

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Doing Neck pain, back pain, you name it. Here’s how to fix it regularly strengthens ab and back muscles, which promotes proper posture and movement, reducing strain. If an aching back blocks sleep for over two weeks, ask your doc about spinal manipulation—small adjustments by a physical therapist—to bring relief.

Pillow

A latex pillow is mite-and-mold kryptonite. With Zoned Gel Talalay Latex pillow ($120, amazon.com), WH executive editor Theresa O’Rourke—who’s prone to sneezing fits—no longer needs a protective pillow cover to reduce her allergy symptoms.

Mattress

Go for a hypoallergenic mattress without springs, such as Essentia Bionda certified organic latex foam mattress ($2,140, myessentia.com), since moisture, bacteria, and dust mites can hide in coils. Or house your existing mattress in a hypoallergenic cover (with a pore size under six microns).

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Bathe before bed to rinse away pollen spores so you won't breathe them in all night (yep, they can hang out on skin and hair—gross). Swap your furnace's air filter quarterly. And add bleach to your washing machine biweekly to kill mites and strip dander from bedding and blankets.

Pillow

A wedge pillow elevates your torso, which keeps stomach acid in its place and prevents reflux. Experts recommend Advanced Positioning Wedge ($219, medcline.com). Oh, and don’t just stack a bunch of regular pillows under your head—this can tweak your neck.

Mattress

Some people see better results when their whole body is tilted; a foam wedge that goes under your mattress will slightly angle your entire bed. Try Solutions Foam Mattress Topper ($169, cuddledown.com).

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Before bed, sip a cup of licorice tea or six ounces of aloe vera juice; both are shown to cool heartburn. Or nix gastro issues with this yoga move: Lie on your back and hug knees to chest. Release left leg and hug right leg for 30 seconds. Switch legs and repeat, then relax both. Do up to three times.

Overnight, your blood sugar dips as your body digests the day's meals—but if it drops too low, you'll wake up with a rumbling tum. Snack right with this timeline.

9 P.M.

Ninety minutes before bed, grab a 250-calorie combo of carbs, protein, and fat to stay full. Try whole-grain crackers with almond butter or cereal with milk.

9:30 P.M.

An hour before bed, down one tablespoon of raw honey, which takes longer for your body to break down than more processed versions. This keeps blood sugar stable overnight.

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2 A.M.

The NightFood brand makes low-sugar bars specifically for middle-of-the-night nibbling ($24 for 12, amazon.com). Their carb-protein balance takes the edge off without causing next-day bloat or digestive issues. Or make a PB sandwich on whole wheat.

Rule out a UTI.

It’s normal to wake up once or twice a night to go, but a sudden increase in p.m. bathroom trips, waking to pee more than three times per night, or burning or stinging during urination can signal a dreaded UTI. Study Says VO2 Max Better Health Marker Than BMI.

Cut caffeine.

Quit coffee in the early afternoon. Seems soon, but See your doctor with a half-life of six hours, so if you drink a grande Starbucks drip with 260 milligrams at 2 p.m., you still have 130 mgs (that equals four cans of Coke!) in your system at 8, making it tough for your body to wind down for sleep a couple of hours later.

Slow your H2O.

Use an app to remind you to get your daily water intake before dinner; try The Benefits of Running 10 Minutes a Day (free, iOS and Android). And if you're thirsty at bedtime, guzzle just a single glass; more than that will fill your bladder and might send you to the loo before morning.

Slash salt.

Put down the Cheez-It box after din-din. Salty foods make you thirsty... and thirst makes you drink... and drinking makes you pee.

Hold off.

Don’t get up to whiz just because you’re awake. Standing up and walking to the b-room raises your heart rate—which must then drop for you to doze off. Go only if you really need to.

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SOURCES: Michael Breus, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and author of The Sleep Doctor's Diet Plan; Michelle Drerup, Psy.D., behavioral sleep medicine specialist, Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Center; Cathy Goldstein, M.D., neurologist, Sleep Disorders Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; Conor Heneghan, director of research algorithms, Fitbit; Jeanne Kenney, R.N., holistic nurse, Montefiore Health System, New York; Neil Kline, D.O., sleep medicine specialist and spokesperson, American Sleep Association; Elika Kormeili, M.F.T., licensed sleep therapist, Los Angeles; Marc Leavey, M.D., primary-care physician and sleep specialist at Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore; Jeffrey Levy, D.V.M., House Call Vet, NYC; Clare Rathjens, D.V.M., Tranquility Veterinary Services, Washington D.C.; Robert S. Rosenberg, D.O., sleep medicine physician and author of The Doctor's Guide to Sleep Solutions for Stress & Anxiety; David O. Volpi, M.D., otolaryngology surgeon and director of EOS Sleep Center, NYC

The article Your Body Might Be Secretly Sabotaging Your Sleep—Here’s How to Fix It originally appeared in the December 2017 issue of Women’s Health.