Sleep is important: Get Your ZZZs!

Sleep is one of the first things that we forfeit when we are feeling pressure to get more done. We tend to forget how important it is to our overall health, as we focus on nutrition and exercise, but in reality, developing healthy habits in all three areas are equally important to our overall wellness.

Why is sleep important?

Rest is important for our physical and mental health.  Plodding through the day in a brain fog impacts our productivity, our decision making abilities, and our demeanor and relationships with those around us.  When we are tired, we become impatient and stressed more easily, and find ourselves distracted and irritable.

Long-term, insufficient sleep can cause even more health consequences. People often overlook the potential long-term health consequences, and the impact that health problems can ultimately have on one’s time and productivity.

Some of the impact of lack of poor nighttime habits may develop relatively unnoticed over time, and can cause as much of a risk factor for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease as genetics, poor nutrition, and lack of exercise are.  Many healthcare professionals have concluded that getting enough high-quality sleep, along with nutrition and exercise, is a key component to health and well-being.

General Health

According to the CDC, adults who sleep fewer than 7 hours each night are more likely to develop health problems, including high blood pressure, asthma, and depression. Some of these health problems raise the risk for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. One of the recent studies shows that those who sleep fewer than 7 hours have a 40% higher prevalence of heart attack than others.

Additionally, sleep issues are believed to raise the odds of cancers of the breast, colon, ovaries and prostate.

Restorative (from Injury)

Sleep is restorative. During the night, our bodies repair damage that may have occurred during the day.  As our bodies rest, cells regenerate and remove toxins from our system through the glymphatic system (more on that in later posts).  That’s why when we wake up, we feel refreshed.

When you are injured, those systems that have suffered injury heal during sleep, helping you heal faster and more fully with less therapy, and fewer drugs.

Mental Health

Among the systems that flush toxins during sleep, is the neurological system, including the brain. Because of this, good sleep hygiene can help reduce the risk of diseases of the brain, like Alzheimer’s.  The glymphatic system flushes out amyloid B proteins, the prevalence of which are known to be connected with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

In addition, there is also a concrete connection between being chronically tired and mental health and depression.  Of course, if you are anxious or depressed, you may have difficulty falling or staying asleep, so it becomes a never-ending battle.

Ways to Improve Sleep Quality

Even if you budget enough time for sleep each night, you may not be getting the good quality rest that your body needs for optimum health

To maximize your quality and time you really sleep:

1. Minimize lights (and device displays) for two hours before the time you want to be asleep.
2. Don’t drink caffeine past 1 pm.
3. Use blue blocking glasses when using electronics.
4. Get regular chiropractic care.

Discomfort and pain, congestion, poor sleep positions can all impact the quality of the sleep that you get.  Chiropractic care is known to help alleviate these issues and can help you get better, truly restorative, high-quality sleep.

Although relieving pain can improve the quality of sleep immediately, there are so many additional benefits. Regular chiropractic care:

1. Relieves pain and discomfort
2. Eases muscle tension which could contribute to restlessness
3. Relaxes the body
4. Stimulates circulation and blood flow
5. Improves central nervous system function
6. Helps to rebalance dopamine and serotonin

Whether you know what is causing your sleep issues or not, visiting us can offer some relief and provide you with some answers and a good night’s sleep!

About Keystone Chiropractic

As an engineer, Dr. Schurger looks at the whole body as a system to determine what is best for each patient. He performs custom spinal imaging for each patient in order to create a custom correction. Dr. Schurger has transformed himself through the ketogenic diet. As part of his practice, he offers nutritional advice to help patients improve their overall health (weight loss being a side effect). His practice, Keystone Chiropractic, focuses on upper cervical chiropractic care, and is located at 450 S. Durkin Drive, Ste. B, Springfield. Call 217-698-7900 to set up a complimentary consultation to see if he can help you!