I turned on my TV this weekend to take a break for a little bit. The program that my tv was already on reminded me that I haven’t really talked about structural stress. Structural stress can also impact the level of stress on the body.
Let’s talk about stress for a minute.
All categories of stress become a concern in healing.
Mental, emotional, physical. Structural stress is within the category of physical stress and can result from sleeping.
When I started my healing journey, I had an older mattress and a topper and for the most part I could sleep reasonably well without a lot of pain. But the mattress was old. I started shopping around. The mattress I chose felt great in the store. When I got it home and had slept on it for several nights, I started to notice a level of pain that I hadn’t had before.
I am a stomach and side sleeper. I also have a blown disc in my neck and the way I sleep isn’t helpful. I had already compromised my sleep with a pillow to support my neck in the right way. The only way I could sleep was sleeping on my side. The addition of the new mattress just added to the struggles I was having. It was still sleeping but it was starting to affect my level of energy. I now had pain that I wouldn’t normally have to deal with. I wasn’t getting the rest my body needed from sleep.
Two of the lifestyle factors that are needed to support health, both stress and sleep were now affected, and it had a direct effect on the balance that is required to keep my Hashi’s in check. It was starting to affect brain fog as well.
And I hadn’t really considered that all of this could be caused by a mattress. The stress it creates on the body has a name, structural stress. I am a princess when it comes to sleep so Duh on my part. Why I hadn’t considered that was silliness but sometimes it takes a while to put together the pieces of the puzzle.
I had an opportunity to speak with my mentor about my struggles. We worked through the latest changes in my life and all issues pointed to the mattress. It is amazing what a Sherlock Holmes approach can figure out.
Of course, there was no way to return the mattress at this point but what I did do was to add a topper.
It instantly changed my world. All of the symptoms that I experienced were gone almost overnight. It was amazing and extremely insightful and I was able to find my balance again.
The channel I ended up watching had an infomercial for MyPillow. Not sure if you are familiar with them. If you are, the infomercial can almost seem silly, but I have a few comments. The Christmas after I got the new mattress, I was given a MyPillow pillow for Christmas. It was amazing. I was able to give up the ridiculous pillow I had been using for my neck and switch to a normal pillow that could support me sleeping the way I like to sleep. It was amazing. Apparently now they have a mattress topper and I’m sure it is exceptional as well.
However, I am not here to try to sell you on MyPillow. The point was to highlight to you that structural stress is real. It can contribute to your health. If you are having aches and pains after sleeping, it might be worth considering that you need something more to help improve that.
I’d love to hear about your sleep and structural stress experiences.
Have a great rest of your week.
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