I've been looking at this from every angle to if there would be any health concerns as the long term affects of polyphasic sleep aren't really known. I found one and it does apply to me.
I've had a slight pain in the neck for the past couple days and coupled with my recent visit to the chiropractor where he was unable to crack my back, it suddenly hit me. My spine was compressed because I was up all day, where laying down for a few hours would allow it to decompress. Here's what a
site I found had to say about it:
Quote:
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Not allowing it to become overly compressed is the best gift you can give your spine. Passive elongation of the vertebral column is an essential movement for the spine... Constant wear and tear in these locked, fixed positions takes its toll; the back loses its ââ¬Ëgiveââ¬â¢ and its shock-absorbing qualities, leaving a stiff and aching spine. This causes the body to become susceptible and itââ¬â¢s easy to see how the problems occur. We can only make the situation worse by standing and sitting upright for long periods where the spine is constantly being squashed. This constant ââ¬Ësquashingââ¬â¢ of the spine means that over time, everything compacts together, noticeably impacting upon itself. Standing or sitting as we do all day in the vertical plane exacerbates this.
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Well now... what I'm doing adds an extra 6 hours a day of pressure on my spine. So of course I wanted to find ways to counteract this, interestingly further down the page there was some suggestions and even an overly expensive device to help with this. Here's an excerpt:
Quote:
Decompressing the intervertebral spaces should be everyoneââ¬â¢s goal, at least once during the day. This is surely the best way to counter the problems associated with postural misalignment and the mechanical problems which result in backache. Why not reverse gravity-assisted compression and witness the rebirth of your spine?
The back wants to feel a fully extended spine, so it helps backache if we can allow stiff joints responsible for the pain to perform as they were designed. If a sedentary lifestyle causing insufficient spinal movement is a major problem, then stretching to separate the squashed discs to enable them to operate as they were meant to is a major solution. Backache is reduced by lengthening the spine, that is by stretching it in a horizontal plane. The back longs to feel fully elongated and extended lengthways as such stretching helps to free each vertebrae from impacting with the one below. By encouraging this stretch, we help to remove the impacted vertebra off the bottom one, thus taking the pressure off the damaged area. Stretching miraculously allows the freeing of impacted joints so that they can move naturally. As the back loosens up it eventually stretches its way to its natural, pain-free position.
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Ya that sounds like what I'm looking for! The device the site promotes is called the Backstretcher. Sounds like torture device doesn't it?
Quote:
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The University of Iowa's Spine Centre recently confirmed in a scientific study that backstretching devices cause the spine to lengthen at twice the effectiveness of bed rest. They concluded: "A single 10 minute usage of Neil Summers's Backstretcher has a statistically significant lengthening effect on the human spine. This means it reduces the pressure on the discs, which is exactly what is needed after the added compression and weight bearing activities of everyday life."
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Here's the product website for those interested:
http://www.thebackcoach.co.uk/story.php
What does this mean for me? It means I'll either be spending some money on a funky looking contraption or I'm going to have to dig up some back excercises that work. Otherwise I'm going to have to start spending more time horizontal or stop this experiment as I'm not going to put my spine on the line.
Health Concerns
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