Often, you do not intend to sleep on the sofa. You may lie down to watch TV, promising yourself that you will get up in a minute, brush your teeth, and head off to bed. Before you know it, you wake up freezing and cramped on the sofa at 5am with a nasty taste in your mouth and an irate spouse in the other room. Whenever possible, you should avoid these sofa-sleeping episodes.
Health
Sleeping on the sofa regularly compromises your health. Sofas are built to properly support a sitting person, meaning the foam and springs are chosen to work with your derriere and back. When you lie down, your spine is not being properly supported. Also, your neck is usually propped up at an awkward angle, something that is really destructive for people with arthritic necks or misaligned vertebrae. If you are having serious issues with back and neck pain, pain management and regular doctor visits with a healthcare provider such as Regional Pain Care are important, but simply changing your sofa sleeping habits may be helpful too.
Healthcare professionals have long lectured that you need a full night's sleep in order to function well both mentally and physically. Chances are a night on the sofa is filled with tossing, turning, and periods of wakefulness, due in part of the sound of the television that you left on. You have a much better shot at a decent night's sleep in your bed.
Relationships
A long-running gag in sitcoms concerns a partner being forced to sleep on the sofa due to an argument. Although everyone can use a cooling-off period at times, choosing to sleep apart can quickly blossom into a real rift in a relationship. That old adage about never going to sleep angry makes a good point. Sleeping together promotes emotional closeness as well as physical intimacy. When you stop being "close," disagreements can fester and become a problem in a relationship. The sofa should not be a regular sleeping place for one member of a couple. Often, sleeping on the sofa can simply become a way to ignore your problems.
Your sofa is meant for you to sit and lounge on during the daytime. It was never meant to be a regular sleeping place and does not offer you the support that your back and neck need to remain healthy. While sofa-sleeping may keep your chiropractor in business, it does nothing for your health and the health of your relationship. If you want a happy home, sleep next to your partner at night and give the sofa a rest.
Share28 October 2016
After watching my mother navigate treatment for breast cancer in my early teens, I knew pretty much what to expect from my dad's diagnosis with prostate cancer. What I didn't know was how different chemotherapy and radiation can affect different people. My mother became very ill while my dad seemed to weather the treatments with few ill effects. I spent a long time researching the differences in treatments, types of chemotherapy, and how each one can react differently with the body. I created this blog to help others understand the same things, because I knew I couldn't be the only one unfamiliar with it. I hope it helps you if someone you love is facing treatment for any type of cancer.
