The Importance of Sleep

We all know that when we come down with a cold or flu, sleep is one of the best ways to support our journey back to health.

Sleep helps to boost our immune system to help us recover from, and to prevent us getting ill. But did you know that long term sleep disturbance or nights of too-little sleep can lead to increased levels of inflammation in the body? 

The role of Cytokines

When we sleep, chemicals called cytokines are released. These proteins are involved with many processes in the body, including the response to disease and infection, and the response to inflammation. If you aren’t getting sufficient amounts of sleep, your body will produce fewer cytokines. Long term, this reduction in cytokines has been associated with increased levels of inflammation as well as various diseases, such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, and degeneration of our nervous system. Increased levels of inflammation in the body mean a lower pain threshold, higher levels of pain and prolonged recovery time. So, for those of you dealing with pain, if you can, getting enough sleep will play a big part in your recovery back to health. 

Not only does sleep help to balance inflammation in the body; it also helps to reduce stress.

REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement) makes up about 20% of our night’s sleep. This is when the brain processes things - we think of it as being time to empty the stress bucket! The more processing we do during the night, the less physical and emotional stress we have to deal with while we’re awake - and the happier we are!

And what do happy hormones do? They lower pain levels and aid recovery! 

So how can we help?

Although we are no experts on sleep, we are experts in checking and adjusting your spine to help your nervous system thrive. Most people that come to us with various aches and pains often find that although there may not be immediate relief of pain after an adjustment, about a third of people do find they immediately get a better night’s sleep. The way we see it is that if our nervous system is not experiencing interference due to dysfunctional joints in the spine, it is able to be in a state of ease, rather than stress. This means our body can function better and focus on what it needs to do – sleep and heal!  

If you’d like to find out how Chiropractic care can help you, get in touch!