In today’s world, many of us are under a lot of stress. We tell ourselves that we’re not, or that we can handle it, but we don’t notice how tight our jaw is held or how high our shoulders are. At night we either don’t allow ourselves enough time for sleep, we can’t get to sleep, or we wake up periodically. And even when we think we’re sleeping well, we’re doing teeth grinding. We may not even recognize that we’re teeth grinding until we notice the wear and tear on our smiles. They get jagged as we get older, and this is definitely not a good look. Here are some tips to reduce teeth grinding.
Notice during the day when you are holding your jaw tight or clenching your teeth together or stressing your neck. Consciously take a deep breath and relax these areas of your body. You’ll be less likely to do teeth grinding at night if you’ve recognized this tendency to grind down during the day.
Along with that, find some relaxation and meditation techniques that work for you during the day. Make it a practice to sit for ten minutes a day and follow your breath or look at a pretty picture or listen to some soothing music. Relaxation is a habit, and we must break the habit if we’re going to break the habit of teeth grinding. It’s just a continuation in the nighttime of what we’ve been doing to ourselves in the daylight hours! Breaking a habit takes commitment because we don’t just break one, we must replace it with a new one. Let relaxation be your new habit.
To further relax so you don’t do much teeth grinding, make sure you wind down about two hours before bedtime. Turn off the computer, and only watch calming television shows, obviously not the late news. Don’t take any more phone calls. Let yourself begin to feel sleepy. Maybe you have a favorite bedtime drink (alcohol isn’t great, but one glass of wine could be okay) or snack or even a natural herbal supplement meant for inducing better sleep.
When all else fails, talk to your dentist. An individualized night guard can be made for you to stop the teeth grinding or at least make sure top and bottom teeth aren’t grinding against each other. You may at first resist this, but your smile and appearance will thank you. It’s not as scary as it sounds. For a modest investment of a few hundred dollars, you’ll have a stiff plastic retainer type device that will actually give you better sleep as you ease up on the teeth grinding. And you’ll age slower because your teeth will not be jagged by the time you’re forty years old. More and more people are using these, and for good reason as stress-related teeth grinding is on the rise.
Sources:
Web MD Sleep Disorders
Satin Bed Sheets
