We are likely never more alone than when we are experiencing chronic pain, and we’re up, awake, in the middle of the night, by ourselves, when everyone else we know and love is resting comfortably.

For someone with chronic pain, poor sleep can be both a cause and effect of body pain. It is difficult to sleep when you are in pain, and then, unfortunately, if you don’t sleep well, your experience of pain can be worse.

If you have back pain, you might make this worse by sleeping on your stomach, but if you sleep on your back, that is painful too.

If you follow any of the practices of mindfulness, you have probably heard of the pain-body. Oprah talked about it a few years ago, and it refers to the idea that we each carry around with us a group of pain that we must find a new relationship with in order to be healthy and whole.

The pain-body arises when you feel any kind of negative emotion, such as anger, irritation, annoyance, frustration, disappointment. For those living with chronic body pain, these feelings are likely to come up frequently, maybe even several times per day.

How to Overcome Morning Stiffness and Pain
Exercising on a daily basis (even walking while swinging your arms) is a great way to release those feel-good endorphins, to get the blood moving and to help clear nasty toxins from the body. A poor diet that is high in simple carbohydrates causes weak muscles, bad posture and lethargy. These are all causes of pain. Moreover, being overweight causes you to carrying unnecessary poundage, which puts strain on your joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments.