Optimize.

That’s the buzz word for 2014. We fret about how to optimize our diets, workouts, workdays, internet speed, websites, leisure time and investments. This isn’t a judgment on optimizing. It is beneficial to make the most of every waking minute of our day. But what about the minutes when we’re sleeping?

Optimize your sleep.

Can we optimize our sleep? Yes, we can. We sleep for one third of our day. Most of the time we do it wrong. And in doing it wrong, we can injure ourselves. Some governments use holding an uncomfortable position for hours at a time on their prisoners as a method of torture. So sleeping for several hours on your stomach, for instance, with your head cranked to the side, your neck hyper-extended and one arm kinked under your body is a bit like, well, torturing yourself.  Then you spend the other two-thirds of your day in severe pain from a night of putting yourself through hell.

Self-torture is decidedly not optimal.

In this six-part series I’m going to cover the most common sleep injuries, from your neck all the way down to your hips. I will describe how they happen, what you can do to treat them when they do and how you can prevent common sleep injuries in the future.   Here's what's coming - until then, sleep well! Part 1: Common Sleep Injuries: Neck Injuries Part 2: Common Sleep Injuries: Shoulder Injuries Part 3: Common Sleep Injuries: Elbow Injuries Part 4: Common Sleep Injuries: Wrist Injuries Part 5: Common Sleep Injuries: Back Injuries Part 6: Common Sleep Injuries: Hip Injuries