Are you waking up and feeling like your have just been been through the wringer?

Certain postures can now be adopted to ensure we improve our general health according to Bright Side, a site that endeavours to make the world a "little better", reports The Mirror .

As we get older, aches, pains, twinges, sore legs, dodgy knees, bad backs, creaky shoulders and muscle spasms are all a part of that wondeful thing called age.

Sleep however can be a perfect recovery time, eight hours ideally, to relieve ourselves of these ailments.

So we should adopt these sleep positions to fix particular issues when we tuck ourselves up in bed tonight.

1. Shoulder pain

If you frequently find you wake up with a sore shoulder, try to stop sleeping on either side.

Sleeping on your stomach should also be avoided as it causes misalignment of the shoulders.

Instead, try to get used to sleeping on your back.

New sleeping positions can help with our aches and pains

Put a thin or orthopedic pillow under your head. Take another pillow, place it on your stomach, and hug it. Your shoulders will now be in the correct and stable position.

If you find you really can't get along with this position, or find it hard to keep up, try lying on the shoulder that's not causing you pain.

Draw your legs up slightly toward your chest, and place a pillow between your knees.

Be warned that sleeping with your hand under your head produces an unnatural position of the shoulder and should also be avoided.

2. Back pain

Maintaining the normal curves of your spine is very important with managing back pain - and an overly soft mattress won't help.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but you should be sleeping on your back as much as possible.

Place a pillow under your knees to help restore natural spinal curves and reduce the tension in your tendons. A small rolled towel under your lower back can lend additional support.

Don't sleep like this if you have back pain!

If you prefer sleeping on your stomach, put a pillow under your lower abdomen and pelvis so that the small of your back doesn't move forward.

If you're a side-sleeper, your best bet is adopting the foetal position and putting a small pillow between your knees. This can help you take the load off your lower back.

3. Neck pain

As with back pain, your neck needs to be supported while you sleep.

The best way, in general, of doing this is to again sleep on your back with a pillow placed under your head and under each arm.

If neck problems are a common occurrence, you should invest in an orthopaedic pillow.

Side sleepers should ensure their pillow is quite flat and no thicker than 6 inches.

Ideally, the height of your pillow should match the width of one shoulder to help keep your neck in the correct position.

People who prefer sleeping on their stomach should use the thinnest pillow possible and, ideally, not sleep in this position at all as lying all night with your head turned to one side will strain your neck.