-Have you worked throughout the day?
-Are you in a bad mood even in the mid-night?
-Do you want a good sleep like the last time you had?
Well, I am here to change your mood, sharing you the ways to have a sound sleep. Nobody is there to stop you.
I am talking about reading books in bed. If you are facing such issues in the questions, reading can be the ultimate solution. Unfortunately, most of us don’t read in bed, as we think it may hurt our back. Even if we do, we get a lot of back or neck pain. There are multiple reasons why we get so much pain.
Read the whole article to know how to read in bed comfortably. Even you will learn how to read in bed without hurting your neck. Okay! Let’s read!
First, I will let you know why you should read books in bed. These reasons will reduce the fear of having back pain and also increase the tendency to read books.
Benefits of Reading Books in Bed
E-book, books (physical) – it doesn’t matter what you want to read. Physical books give a real feeling of exploring the world inside the books. E-books are for them who don’t want to flip the paper again and again. Modern devices support eBook reading. Anyway, both types of books are enjoyable to read at night. You don’t need to stay awake, sitting on a chair throughout the whole night. You can fulfill your reading thirst lying on the bed.
Here are some notable benefits of reading a book in the bed instead of the couch:
- Better sleep: Reading is a friendly job for the people having insomnia. As you lie on the bed in the night, it will be a better habit if you start reading books. Think about the small kids. Or even you can recall childhood memories. Parents are telling stories to the kid; slowly, the kid falls into a deep sleep. This happens due to the kids go inside the story into an imaginative world. Similarly, when you start reading the book in bed, the imaginative characters will induce you to sleep. It works like a healer to a mind and a brain having lots of worldly tensions or stress. Even you can’t get that faster relief from reading a book on the table.
- Stress relief: After fighting the whole day, our minds become a storehouse of thoughts, fears, tensions in the night. Even many of us go into stress as the mind starts running after things. Reading books before you sleep works like medicine of pressure. Reading keeps you think about the book instead of focusing on your stress. After stress relief, you can have a tight sleep too.
- More concentrated: Most of us have forgotten where to focus, to give more importance. We spend most of the time on those time-killer social and entertainment networks like Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, etc. They are just making us less focused and distracted from our life aims. But if you read books before bedtime, you can recover your losses. Reading habits make us believe we can win. It helps to train our brains to stay focused. We can plan what to do the next day. Besides, we can have better controls on our mind, like where to turn our mind. Even if the story of the book appears more enjoyable, we may stay focused for hours.
- More creativity: You can look for the secrets of successful people, how they succeeded, became the top choice of the society. Many of them have the habit of reading books or PDFs on their tabs or smartphone before sleeping. Reading books makes you think about the world in different hidden eyes. You would be confident and creative to find multiple and diverse solutions to the same problem. Reading is the workout for the brain. So, there is no chance of frustration.
- Empathy: Reading a book in bed helps you to be more empathetic. When you become an empathetic person, you can learn a thing in different ways. You can post yourself to someone else situation. It will tell you how to analyze something for everyone’s betterment. Reading at night allows you to be so, an empathetic person. You can learn how the world sees you.
- Peace and serenity: if you won’t fight or have dramatic scenes in a dream, watch television at night. Drama, violence, loud music, horror, etc. are not welcoming in the dream. Besides, a peace-loving person won’t be able to bear them every time. Reading books before you sleep is calm, quiet, and peaceful. You don’t need to hear loud music, sounds of sensational scenes, or bear the lighting of television. Reading helps you to stay cool, removing the stress. It’s an inexpressible, well feeling of the mind. Peace and serenity become a friend of the reader.
- Boosts memory power: When you grow the habit of reading books, you can certainly know new vocabulary items. The practice of reading removes the numbness of the brain. Repetitive workout of brains happens when you read books with full focus. Reading on the bed helps to understand that focus. You can quickly memorize things when you read the book.
Still, thinking of why you should read books in bed???
I think you have the interest to read the next part of the article. As there are lots of benefits of reading books before bedtime, this part is also useful. Misreading books can bring lots of problems like back pain, shoulder pain, neck pain, etc. Here are the best ways to read in bed without hurting your back, neck, or shoulder:
Reading Pillows
It’s not your sleeping pillows. These pillows are specially designed to use on the bed to help your reading. These pillows can hold the body in the correct position. As a result, you can read the books throughout the night without any chance of getting a neck or back pain.
You may find different designs of reading pillows. From simple to sophisticated design, you can keep your arms, eyes relaxed beside your back. These pillows will place arms and hands in the correct position.
Correct Lighting
If the current environment is not friendly like a shadowy place can bring complications in reading. Low light can put pressure on the eyes. Eyes get strains when you start finding the printed letters in low light. On the other hand, excess light in the bedroom while reading will give you blurry vision. Besides, you won’t be able to focus on reading. The bulb light will grab your attention.
You may think of bedside lamps to use while reading on a book. I am not suggesting you use a bedside lamp for reading in the bed. It can help you with reading. Yet you won’t feel comfortable while reading.
So, you should manage a reading lamp for intervening in the world of mysterious texts. These lamps prevent shadows from appearing on pages of your hands. Wall lights, bedside lamps can create this shadow. Besides, reading lamps improve the ambiance in your bedroom. It helps your eyes to stay relax and be focused on while reading the book.
A Cup of Coffee
I have already told you about the benefits of reading books lying on the bed. There is no alternative to reduce stress and pain from the mind. If reading pillows, the excellent ambiance isn’t helping you to read with comfort; you can make a mug coffee fast.
Caffeine in the coffee relaxes the body and freshens up the mind. You can also concentrate well while you sip coffee. It can warm up the body, remove the dullness of mind. All the bad feelings, mood swings will vanish when you read books beside the coffee.
However, if you have coffee without reading, it may bring the opposite things. Because coffee keeps the brain conscious and focused on things, you do. Have the correct amount of coffee to read the novel, stories, or poems.
Taking Breaks
It may seem funny while you are lost in reading books in the bed. Many experts suggest taking breaks while reading books at a stretch. It may help you build concentration and being confident.
Usually, I take 15-20 minutes break while reading books. It helps to reduce stress and make me feel energized. Taking Breaks heels the pressure on minds and bodies. It also helps to change the lying position that we may do for a long time.
If you are hurting your eyes looking at books at a stretch, then breaks taking will be the best medicine.
Suitable Posture
The maximum time we get shoulder or back pain while or after reading because of our wrong lying pattern. We are not aware of our posture. Day by day, the pain increases, and we can’t identify like – “Where the hell the pain is coming from?”
Every task in this world has its own pattern. Reading in bed comfortably requires our strong wishes to correct our body movements on the flatbed. So, I have researched this matter and found a couple of methods very much effective.
You can follow these body positioning to reduce or not having any pain reading books in bed:
Lying flat
I am not asking you to feel like a robot just lying flat on the ground. Lie flat on your back, keeping the pillow under your head. Through this way, your spine will remain aligned with natural conditions.
You should place your head and neck on the pillow naturally. Pillow will give ample support to this area. To lie flat, you mustn’t use piles of pillows or blankets under your head. Otherwise, you may have heavy neck pain, even for a long time injury to upper spine areas.
But the problem will occur when you need to come in such a position as looking at your book. You must bend your head to see the book. Then, how can you call this lying flat?
Well. You can stay in the same position without bending your head. Bring a big size pillow and put it under your elbows and forearms across the chest. Through this way, you can easily elevate your arms in good position. You can now see every line written in the book.
Stacking Pillows
This is pretty much common until you are living in a hostel. We lean ourselves on a pile of pillows. It can give you instant comfy as you won’t need to raise your hands holding the book. Because your head is already bent in such an angle that you can read books easily. But you would do wrong if you stack pillows in regular rules of stacking.
So, what would be the correct pillow stacker position? Wait, I am telling you that too.
First, you should place pillows right behind your lower and mid-back. Then bring another softer, flexible pillow-like feather pillows. Keep it behind your head while giving support around the neck. I suggest you not to use fluffy pillows that can make you bend the head.
Then, put a fluffy pillow under the knees. You can also add one more pillow (thin) there to raise your knees a bit higher. That position will help you to hold the book.
Now, you won’t have any back or neck pain while reading books in bed.
The Side Lounger
Keeping your head on your arm while lounging on your side and reading the book – is another common scene. If you occasionally or always do this, you have increased chances to have ached for holding head for a long time.
You should lounge with the help of pillows. To do so, you will need a fluffy pillow. Pick it extra large in size for better lounging. Place it between shoulder and head. It will give you extra support.
If you want more flexibility, don’t hold the book with your hand alone. You can use a pillow to hold the book a bit up. Put a smaller pillow just under the torso area of your body. It will give you extra comfort.
Reading on Stomach
Holding a book on the stomach sand reading it is an old trend of reading books in bed. But holding books on the stomach with your arms and elbows would be a pathetic idea. It may give you pain and sore eventually. But I am here to give you the idea of the best way to read books in bed. So, you can try the stomach reader method too.
This method is quite similar to side lounger. Place a soft, lightweight pillow under your chest close to your thighs. Now, make piles of pillows between your elbows as well as under the chest.
If you are reading a physical book or eBook on the phone, place a pillow under it.
The Crouching Curler
Reading a book in bed by sitting upright while curling on it is another popular way of reading. This crunched position may happen in other ways. You may keep your legs crossed on your knees. It may feel comfortable first. But this position needs to be corrected. You may have aches due to this positioning too.
So, what shall you do?
Keep a fluffy pillow under the book. You can Do it from the starting position. I suggest you add pillows to curling up for full support. You should change your position soon. Otherwise, you still have a chance of getting hurt.
Sprawling Back
Sometimes we sprawl flat on our back, holding a thing like a book or a phone. This happens when we read a book for a long time and feel that we need breaks. Even sometimes, we brace the book on our thighs while prepping our legs up. These body posture may seem high, yet you can have shoulder pain.
To have a correct sprawling back method, place a pillow under the head. Then prop your knees by keeping a fluffy pillow under them. Keep a soft pillow in your lap area. You can pile pillows on the stomach.
Reading Books in Bed Comfortably Tips:
- Use a stack of fluffy or soft pillows
- Don’t bend your neck unnecessarily
- Keep pillow on your chest
- Avoid reading in the same position for a long time
- Take a break while reading
- Strengthen your neck muscles
Frequently Asked Questions
There have been some frequently asked questions available about how to read books in bed without hurting neck, shoulder. These are some of them have:
Question: How to read in bed without hurting your neck?
Answer: You can buy book holders to hold books and eBook readers, tabs, phones, etc. You can attach them to any surface and position.
Question: How to read in bed without hurting your back?
Answer: Lie on a bed in a comfortable position without putting extra pressure on the back. You should use correct pillows to support the back. Change your posture after every 30 minutes to avoid sore in the muscles.
Question: How to read in bed without falling asleep?
Answer: If you don’t want to sleep, you can prepare strong coffee or tea. You can also chew chewing gum to avoid falling asleep. Taking a break from reading can also help you.
Conclusion
So, you have reached the last part of the article. You can try any of the mentioned methods to read books in bed without hurting your neck. Always change your posture in bed. After all, we won’t get a real feeling of the book we read without comfortable lying on the bed.
Don’t wait if you are already in a lot of back pain. Meet the doctor to avoid serious injury.
Thanks for reading!