無意識レベルで食いしばる
睡眠中に食いしばるのが癖になっていると、眠りが浅くなりがちです。また、眠っているので食いしばっている状態に気づいていないのですが、何時間もずっと食いしばることで、奥歯への負担だけでなく、顎や頭や首の筋肉もこわばるため、結果的に頭痛や肩こりの原因にもなります。
マウスピースが割れた経験から
私は小さいころから睡眠中の食いしばりが酷く、過去には歯医者から勧められてマウスピースをオーダーメイドしたこともあります。しかし、マウスピースをはめて眠るのが更なるストレスとなり、マウスピースを噛みしめすぎた結果、マウスピースを割ったこともあります。結局、私にはマウスピースは肌に合わず、食いしばりを放置したことから、奥歯も擦り減り、頭痛や肩こりに苦しむ日々を過ごしていました。
食いしばりを和らげる鍼
そこで最近、食いしばりには鍼が良いと知り、自分自身で咬筋を緩める鍼を試したこところ、かなり食いしばりが改善しました。長い間、睡眠中に無意識で食いしばっていたのでしょうか。咬筋がカチカチに固まり過ぎて自分でも驚きました。くいしばりの鍼を試したところ、顔周りだけでなく頭痛や肩こりも改善したと実感しました。
リラックスして眠れる
食いしばりながら眠ると、首や肩の筋肉もこわばることで、いつもの枕が合わないと感じるかもしれません。枕の硬さは一定ですので、枕がフィットしないと感じる夜は、もしかしたら自分自身の疲労・ストレス状態がそう感じさせているのかも。枕が合わないのではなく、睡眠中の食いしばりが背景にありそうです。
がっちり噛みしめるのは覚醒中に集中している時だけで十分です。眠りに入る時には、全身をリラックスさせて、顎も顔周りも緩めるのが大事です。鍼だけでなく、顎周りのマッサージも食いしばりには効果がありますので、寝る前の習慣として是非食いしばりを改善してみてください。
Acupuncture to improve clenching during sleep
Clenching on an unconscious level
If clenching during sleep is a habit, sleep tends to be poor. In addition, although you are not aware of the state of clenching because you are asleep, clenching for hours on end not only strains the back teeth, but also stiffens the jaw, head and neck muscles, which can result in headaches and stiff shoulders.
From my experience with a broken mouthpiece
I have had severe clenching during sleep since I was a child, and in the past, my dentist recommended that I have a custom-made mouthpiece. However, sleeping with the mouthpiece on became even more stressful, and I once broke the mouthpiece as a result of over- clenching it. In the end, the mouthpiece did not fit my sleeping habit, and because I left the clenching untreated, my back teeth were also worn out, and I spent my days suffering from headaches and stiff shoulders.
Acupuncture to relieve clenching
So I recently learned that acupuncture is good for clenching, and around the time I tried acupuncture to relax the masseter muscle myself, my clenching improved considerably. For a long time, I clenched my teeth unconsciously during sleep. I was surprised myself because my masseter muscles were so tight.
When I tried acupuncture for clenching, I realized that it improved not only my facial area but also my headaches and stiff shoulders.
Relax and Sleep
When you sleep clenching, your neck and shoulder muscles also stiffen, and you may find that your pillow does not fit. Since the firmness of pillows is fixed, on nights when you feel that your pillow does not fit, it may be your own fatigue/stress condition that is making you feel this way. It is not that the pillow does not fit, but that clenching during sleep may be behind the problem.
It is good enough to clench tightly only when you are awake and concentrating. When going to sleep, it is important to relax the whole body and loosen both the jaw and the facial area. In addition to acupuncture, massage around the jaw is also effective for clenching, so you should try to improve your clenching as a habit before going to bed.
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