Mick’s up with Your Travel

Since we just finished a great week of travel over the holiday, soaking up lots of love from family, I’m thinking you might be traveling, too.  We love visiting parents, brothers and sisters-in-law, nephews, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles… but it sure can be a pain in the neck!


I don’t mean it as a cliché.  I mean it literally!

If Jay and I don’t take our regular pillows with us when we travel, then we have pains in our necks each morning and throughout the days.  Why is that?  Do you have the same problem?  What do you use for sleeping?  What is recommended for proper sleeping?

First, the why:  “Sleeping on a pillow that does not properly support your neck or causes it to tilt forward can gradually decrease the angle of the cervical curve and cause pain, stiffness, headaches, and misalignment of the vertebrae over time.” (Dr. Suzy)  There it is!  We need to support the natural curve in our necks.  “A normal, healthy neck has a small lordosis, which means it curves.” (Anne Asher)

Next, the what:  I have always wondered what is healthiest for sleeping, and so I was very excited to be told at my previous chiropractor’s office of a neck support to use while sleeping.  So far, that is the best thing I have found.  Nothing worked as well before I used this cervical pillow, and I have not yet come across anything since.

You might use a type of pillow suggested by your doctor.  I am not going to say it is good or bad.  If you are trying to improve your cervical curve, then that is a great place to be!

Finally, the how:  As much as people don’t want to hear it, there are some sleep positions that are just not at all good for the spine.  If you truly, honestly want to be the healthiest you can be, then you need to consider your spine, and in this case, how you sleep.  Lying on your back and using spinal supports is the best thing you can do for yourself, when it comes to sleeping.  It takes time to get used to it, if you are not a back sleeper… but it sure is worth it!  (I heard a great tip from a chiropractor recently.  She suggested that a stomach sleeper wear an oversized shirt for pajamas, and stuff a pillow under the shirt at the chest/belly area.  This should hinder a stomach sleeper from rolling onto their belly while sleeping.)

Keep your chin up!

In peace I will lie down and sleep,

for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 4:8 (NIV)

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