Although the couch may seem like the best place to fall asleep, it’s not good for sleep or your spine, experts say. So take advantage of the eye drop to get to bed before it’s too late.
Falling asleep on the couch is easier
The sofa isn’t actually a nicer space to sleep in than the bed, but it can sometimes feel like it. It’s the end of the day, we’re home from work or the gym, we’ve had dinner and we have the TV on. In the end we fall asleep because we are lying down and tired.
The brain can also come to associate the sofa with sleep if sleeping on the sofa is commonplace. And when that happens, we may be prone to falling asleep more quickly each time we sit on it. The best time to sleep on the couch may be at eight or nine at night, after dinner and sitting on the sofa to catch up with our favorite series. The problem is that eight or nine o’clock isn’t really bedtime, we’re really just taking a nap right before bed. That’s why when you wake up an hour or two later and go to your room half sleepwalking.
Pain and bad rest
The bedrooms are supposed to be dark and quiet, but the living room is probably the opposite. There are interruptions from the TV, lights, and other people, all of which can wake us up. And those little awakenings can make sleep is lightermore fragmented and shallower.
On the other hand, the sofas are designed to be seated, not to lie down. If we lie down for seven or eight hours, it is very likely that we will wake up with stiffness or pain in the neck, back, shoulders, or hips. The fact that sofas tend to be shorter than beds can also be problematic. The knees may have to be bent, which can cause hamstring strain and cause more back pain.
But these effects won’t just leave us uncomfortable when we get up. If the pain persists through the night, it will end up making it even more difficult for us to fall asleep the next night.