Muscle cramps and stiffness

Muscle cramps and stiffness
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You don’t have to work out intensely the night before to wake up feeling as if you hiked a mountain. Stiff joints and crampy muscles in the morning have a lot to do with circulation. Or can be a symptom of arthritis.

“As you begin to move around, blood and oxygen are diverted from your digestive tract and vital organs to meet the demands of your muscles,” says Kalika. “Poor sleeping posture, trigger points in your muscles, poor cardiovascular fitness and dehydration can all contribute to morning muscle stiffness.”

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Painful jaw or headache

Painful jaw or headache
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If you grind your teeth at night, you probably wake up with a painful jaw or even a headache. “When you grind your teeth at night, your jaw muscles never have a chance to relax, and you may develop trigger points that cause pain and dysfunction,” says Kalika.

The best thing you can do to combat this side effect is to de-stress as much as possible. “Stretching, deep breathing, meditating and relaxing in an Epsom salt bath before bed will help you sleep better so you wake up refreshed and better able to manage stress,” Kalika suggests.

Greasy skin

Greasy skin
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Washing your face in the morning might seem silly if you washed it right before you went to bed, but it’s for a purpose.

“At night our oil glands can be active and leave a layer of ‘grease’ on our skin first thing in the morning,” Dr Ilyas says. “It helps to stick with gentle cleansers and avoid overly harsh or abrasive ones at night that can cause your skin to overproduce oil.”

Next up, learn 13 strange body facts you’ve always wanted to know.

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Source: RD.com

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