Are two things that you do every single day potentially connected to your back pain? We know more about the impact of lifestyle on health than ever before. Very few health and lifestyle choices we make on a daily basis exist in a vacuum. That's why there's suddenly attention on the ways that nutrition, sleep, and back pain may be interconnected. Here's what you need to know if you're living with unrelenting back pain.
Diet and Back Pain: Is There a Link You Should Know About?
Some bodily pain is the result of inflammation. Some foods cause inflammation. This is where the link between diet and back pain begins to form.
Inflammation is actually a "good" thing for the body in small doses. That's because inflammation is part of the body's defense system. By fighting and "pushing out" harmful of foreign substances from the body, the body is able to trigger the self-healing process. However, the healing process can't be activated if we are constantly introducing a steady flux of inflammation-inducing foods and beverages.
While the jury is still out on just how much inflammatory foods can contribute to back pain specifically, there's no question that certain foods do have inflammatory properties. When diets are heavy in inflammatory foods, a constant activation of inflammation can lead to pain.
The Sour Truth About Sugar and Back Pain
Could a sweet tooth be behind your back pain? Sugar is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to inflammatory foods. Even people who don't necessarily indulge in "sweets" are at risk simply because of how much sugar is found in processed foods in the typical Western diet. Sugar is hidden in bread, cured meat, soup, and ketchup are behind why the average adult male consumes 24 teaspoons of added sugar per day. According to researchers, the association between dietary sugars and increased risk of chronic disease is tied in with how people are living with diet-activated low-grade chronic inflammation. Researchers also believe that increased consumption of dietary sugars and sugary beverages is responsible for why more people around the world are suffering from systemic inflammation.
According to a 2020 study, adults with chronic spinal pain had significantly poorer diets. Diets high in added sugars were associated with 49% increased odds of chronic spinal pain. Meanwhile, diets with higher fruit, whole grain, and dairy content were associated with a 20% to 26% lower likelihood of chronic spinal pain.
Sugary foods aren't unique in their ability to cause inflammation. According to experts, all processed foods can cause inflammation. The link is there because processed foods alter bacteria in the gut to allow dangerous bacteria to outnumber good, healthy bacteria. When diet has altered the gut microbiome, the gut's ability to interact properly with the immune system can trigger chronic inflammation. All of this means that your back pain could be linked with a habit of grabbing ready-to-eat, ultra-processed foods that are linked with chronic low-grade inflammation. Some vices also accompany everyday foods when it comes to triggering inflammation. For example, alcohol consumption is linked with inflammation.
Making Changes to Reduce Dietary Inflammation
Experts believe that dietary changes may be helpful in removing inflammation triggers to reduce chronic inflammation that is linked with pain. Studies show that patients with psoriatic arthritis can experience clinically significant improvements simply with weight loss aided by dietary changes. A 2023 paper on chronic inflammation recommends the following changes for reducing inflammation:
- Adopting a low-glycemic diet that limits or eliminates sodas, fructose corn syrup, and refined carbohydrates.
- Reducing intake of saturated and trans fats.
- Increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables that include blueberries, cherries, apples, broccoli, cabbage, and other options that are high in natural antioxidants, polyphenols, and anti-inflammatory compounds.
- Increasing fiber intake.
- Consuming more green or black tea.
- Consuming cumin for its anti-inflammatory benefits.
- Consuming fish oil.
- Getting proper doses of magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin E, zinc, selenium, and other micronutrients.
Back Pain and Sleep: Is There a Connection?
It's not uncommon for people who suffer from back pain to have a complicated relationship with sleep. After all, trying to get some shuteye when your back is acting up isn't the easiest thing to do in the world. However, the relationship between back pain and poor sleep may not necessarily start there. Poor sleep may actually be a precursor to back pain instead of the relationship being the other way around. Not sleeping enough may sometimes be the cause of back pain.
Researchers believe that there's a chemical link between pain and sleep loss. Research shows that decreased sleep quality is associated with increased pain sensitivity when pain was measured across a range of different test modalities that included pressure algometry, laser stimuli, and thermal tests. It appears that sleep deprivation ultimately increases pain sensitivity while impairing the body's pain-modulation capabilities.
In one specific study, researchers were able to discover that poor sleep actually interferes with specific pain centers of the brain that can change a person's perception of discomfort. In fact, study participants who experienced discomfort after a period of sleep deprivation experienced a 120% increase in activity in the region of the brain that interprets pain compared to participants who had slept eight hours. Ultimately, it appears that poor sleep lowers the pain threshold.
Bringing It All Together: Diet and Sleep Quality
It's clear that both diet and sleep quality may impact back pain. However, diet and sleep quality are also linked. When we aren't getting enough high-quality sleep, our eating habits can be affected. According to researchers, short sleepers often make poor nutritional choices while having higher caloric intakes compared to people who sleep more than seven hours a night. Insufficient sleep is associated with higher levels of a hormone called ghrelin that increases appetite. This hormone is the reason why missing sleep actually makes us crave high-calorie and sugary foods and snacks. Eating a high-sugar diet can also lead to poor sleep quality because it disrupts hormones, confuses wakefulness-signaling neurotransmitters, and creates a sugar rush/sugar crash cycle.
Understanding the Power of Diet and Sleep Could Help to Get Back Pain Under Control
Like with any health issue, back pain can't necessarily be fixed in an instant just by making a few changes. However, the vicious cycle of inflammation that is caused by poor sleep and a high-processed diet could be contributing to back pain. Pillow helps you track your sleep patterns and pinpoint sleep disruptions to see if you could be veering into inflammation-inducing territory.
