Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image
Topics: Sleep, TikTok, Social Media, Health
Gerrard Kaonga
Unfortunately, you might be setting yourself up for bad posture and other health issues according to an expert.
You can add this to the long list of things you have apparently been doing wrong: sleeping.
That is according to physical therapist Sammy Spiegel, who regularly highlights health issues on her social media pages.
In a TikTok she posted to her page, Samspiegs, she argued against sleeping with two pillows.
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She warned of an issue that could arise, ‘two pillow syndrome’.
Admittedly, she did say that you won’t find the phrase in any scientific studies, but she insists it is a real issue.
Now, before you completely write her off, the Missouri-based physical therapist who has worked in the industry for more than 13 years, explained that she has watched a host of preventable conditions 'creep up on people'.
“What is happening to us in daily life is we are falling into this position," she said while getting into a slouched posture.
She continued: “If we are here all day and then lie down with the two pillows, what that does is that it lifts up to our head, conforming to our curve that is occurring over time with poor posture instead of our neck and spine stretch back into a nice straight position.”
Well, why could this be a big deal in the first place?
According to Spiegel, it can cause or drastically worsen a dowager's hump. This occurs on your upper back near the nape of your neck and may also be referred to as a neck hump or hunchback, among other things.
Either way, the term describes the 'excessive curve of your spine', according to health experts at Cleveland Clinic, and the most common cause of it is bad posture.
The expert went on to explain that 8 hours of sleep with bad posture will eventually adds up.
She insisted people should be sleeping in a position which they want their posture in the daytime 'to reflect'.
She said: “I'm already fighting bad posture enough as it is, I don't want to lie down in bed and have a pillow just put me in bad posture.
“When you go to bed at night, use gravity to your advantage to stretch you straighter, if you can tolerate it."
And to really hammer her point home, after offering some exercises to strengthen and improve posture, she closed the video by saying ‘avoid two pillow syndrome’.