Lack of Sleep after Hip Surgery

I recently met up with a friend who is also a physician and a mom. She had hip replacement surgery a few weeks ago, and while that wasn’t the main topic of conversation, I was struck by a difficulty she had after surgery that could have easily been prevented or improved upon. She also said that the effect of surgery- anesthesia and postoperative pain and immobility- affected her sleep significantly and “that made everything worse.”

Amazing how important sleep is to our systems especially when recovering from an illness, injury, or surgery. We all know this yet we don’t prioritize it. If you are having surgery, this is a great opportunity to work on your sleep. You have an excuse!

Start a bedtime routine if possible. Yes, just like young kids do better with sleep routines, so do we adults. Talk with your doctor (not your surgeon because they don’t typically work with sleep medicines) about what type of sleep aids might be helpful after surgery, including holistic remedies such as valerian root, melatonin, B vitamins. Keep in mind that some pain medicines make people sleepy, but we are trying to avoid narcotics as much as possible for treating pain so have a sleep regimen set up for both with and without the prescription pain meds.

There are also plenty of non-medication options such as acupressure, acupuncture, stress control, self-hypnosis, meditation, massage that can help your body decrease its stress response after surgery and fall into a better night of sleep.