So, Still Awake? Here’s a Chiropractor’s Guide to Better Sleep

If you are having trouble sleeping at night, you are not alone. More than one-quarter of the U.S. population report they occasionally do not get enough sleep, and nearly 10% admit to experiencing chronic insomnia. If that’s you, let your chiropractor or medical doctor know, and be aware there are things you can do on your own.

Not Sleeping Should Not Be Ignored

Here’s why: According to the National Institutes of Health, insomnia is sometimes related to neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease or emotional disorders like depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress syndrome. Other possible causes include arthritis, asthma, headaches, hyperthyroidism, gastrointestinal disorders, or menopause.

For some people, lack of sleep is self-induced. Typical reasons people don’t – or can’t – spend enough time in deep sleep at night include

  • Working long hours

  • Taking care of the kids

  • Increased stress loads

  • Abuse of recreational drugs or alcohol

  • Too much caffeine.

How Your Chiropractor Can Help

Doctors of chiropractic assess your musculoskeletal system for mechanical issues that could potentially prevent a comfortable night of sleep. Chiropractors can diagnose and treat any underlying musculoskeletal cause of sleeping difficulties and target these sites specifically with gentle care. Soft tissue massage, mobilizations, posture changes, or gentle chiropractic adjustments can relieve stress on the spine.

Chiropractic treatment is designed to maintain and restore the proper spinal alignment necessary for the body’s systems to work optimally together. Proper alignment of the spine helps increase flexibility and movement in joints, especially important in the rib and chest area for breathing.

What chiropractors know is that decreased flexibility in this area restricts the inspiration capabilities of the chest wall. Although this might not be noticeable to some people when awake, the increased energy required to take a full deep breath takes its toll, often leaving them restless and tired in the morning and wondering why.

Results Of Not Sleeping Show Up In Other Ways

If you find yourself experiencing sleep problems, your chiropractor would like you to pay particularly close attention because it’s detrimental to your health in many ways. In a recent article written for Time magazine, Christine Gorman reports that sleep deprivation is responsible for slower reactivity times and poor memory. In fact, after about 20 hours without sleep, reaction times are similar to those with a 0.08 blood-alcohol level, making it significantly more dangerous to operate a motor vehicle.

Some experts tell us that a lack of sleep may contribute to a greater incidence of all kinds of disease due to its negative effect on our immune system. According to Dr. Diwakar Balachandran, a sleep specialist from the University of Texas, extended awake times decrease our body’s ability to fight off colds and flu.

Studies conducted in his labs have shown that T-cell counts decrease, and the concentration of inflammatory cytokines (not a good thing) increases when a person is sleep-deprived. That can lead to more susceptibility to catching a cold or taking longer to recover from bacterial infections.

In other studies that your chiropractor can talk to you about, sleep deprivation has been linked to obesity. In subjects exposed to two consecutive nights with less than four hours of sleep, the normal hormone levels of leptin and ghrelin became altered. This resulted in a perceptive shift in hunger and a greater likelihood of these people reaching for candy, cookies, and cake instead of vegetables, fruit, and dairy products.

A Comprehensive Assessment By Your Chiropractor Is A Good First Step

If a lack of sleep is starting to affect your concentration, memory, or mood, you may have a sleeping problem. Chances are that it is just a case of nerves or an inability to deal with life’s stress. Still, to be safe, you need to get to the root cause of not sleeping.

Early detection and correction offer the greatest odds of getting back to your best possible self, and chiropractors know that sleep problems are sometimes caused by non-obvious conditions or situations.

If you do not want to have to take pills to improve your sleep, make an appointment with your chiropractor. He or she has any number of conservative, non-pharmaceutical treatments to help you increase your quality of sleep – and that’s a big step to a better quality of life.

What You Can Do to Get Better Sleep 

  1. Go to sleep and wake up at about the same time every day.

  2. Make your bedroom dark, quiet, and comfy.

  3. Try to get 7-8 hours of shut-eye per night.

  4. Don’t eat a big meal close to your bedtime.

  5. Get up and read a book if you can’t sleep.

  6. Take your computer and TV out of your bedroom.

  7. Put your smartphone in a drawer so the screen light doesn’t keep you up.

  8. Try not to nap.

  9. Avoid caffeine at least 6 hours before bedtime.

  10. Exercise most days this week. Do it early in the day if you find that later workouts hamper your sleep.

  11. Start a sleep diary. Write down how well and how long you rest.

  12. Don’t drink alcohol at night.

  13. Position yourself for sleep success with these three tips:
    a. Lay on your side with your knees drawn up to your chest and put a pillow between your knees. Flexing your knees takes unwanted pressure off your muscles, discs, and nerves allowing you to sleep undisturbed.

b. It’s normal to switch positions while you sleep, so if you flip over on your back, flex your knees to approximately 45 degrees, put a pillow under your knees, and stick a smaller pillow in the small of your back to help you keep the normal contour of your spine.

c. Avoid laying on your stomach. This position puts unwanted pressure on the muscles and discs in your back and may increase back pain. In addition, you will have to turn your head while laying on your stomach, which takes your neck out of its proper alignment subjecting you to potential neck pain.

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