Sleep and Chiropractic Care: How You Can Improve Your Quality of Sleep

Sleep and Chiropractic Care: How You Can Improve Your Quality of Sleep

Are you having trouble sleeping? This can come from a whole variety of issues, but pain seems to be one of the leading factors in poor sleep quality. If this is the case for you, you aren’t alone. Over half of the adult population suffer from spinal pain.  In addition, chronic headaches and migraines affect more than 38 million Americans.

Insomnia affects over 40% of adults, which is correlated with a variety of health issues. While new mattresses, dietary changes, and exercise can help with sleep, have you ever considered trying chiropractic care?

That’s right! Sleep and chiropractic care may have a significant correlation. Regularly seeing a chiropractor with Mobile Wellness Care can help address some issues that affect the way you sleep, thus helping you get better rest throughout the night. Read on to find out how chiropractors can help you sleep better.

What Causes Poor Quality Sleep?

When thinking of sleep quality, we often think of the number of hours we get per night. On average, it’s recommended to get 7-9 hours of sleep a night for good health. However, you must also consider the quality of sleep you are getting.

Unfortunately, poor sleep quality can lead to issues such as:

• Chronic daytime fatigue
• Difficulty in concentrating
• Irritability and mood swings
• Memory issues
• Delayed reaction time
• Weakened immune system
• Depression and/or anxiety
• Low sex drive
• Increased risk of conditions like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and seizures

There are various causes behind poor sleep quality, such as:

• Inactivity
• Chronic pain
• Poor sleep hygiene
• Poor diet and eating right before sleeping
• Spinal misalignment

Sleep and Chiropractic Care

As you can see, chronic pain and spinal misalignment are causes of poor sleep.

Wait, how do spinal misalignments cause poor sleep quality? Subluxations, or spinal misalignments can compress the nerves, reducing the communication between your spine and brain. This can force your body into a stress response, putting your body out of balance and making it difficult to function properly.  This can also affect your sleep.

It can also be difficult to sleep well if you feel tension and pain around your neck, back, legs, or hips? You’ll probably be tossing and turning a lot! The same goes for chronic headaches or migraines.

This is where a chiropractor can help. Chiropractors focus on your spinal health and removing subluxations. This will not only help with your sleep and nervous system, but also reduce any pain and discomfort you experience.

Studies have shown that almost 1/3 of people who have undergone chiropractic adjustments experienced immediate sleep improvement.

This is because regular chiropractic care can help:

• Relax the body
• Ease muscle tension that causes restlessness
• Relieve any pain or discomfort
• Stimulate blood flow and circulation
• Improve the functioning of your central nervous system

A chiropractor can do more than just a spinal adjustment to help with your sleep. They can provide advice on better sleeping positions and postural exercises. They may provide advice on what supportive mattresses and ergonomic pillows to invest in. Many chiropractors even offer guidance in proper diet and exercise. This will not only improve your sleep, but your overall health!

What about those who suffer from insomnia, sleep apnea, or other sleep disorders? Some studies have shown that patients find relief with ongoing chiropractic care, even though a direct correlation between better sleep quality and spinal adjustments in these conditions hasn’t been shown.

When to See a Chiropractor

Chiropractic care involves the physical manipulation of the muscular and skeletal systems. Because of this, there are some conditions in which spinal manipulation may pose a potential risk.  In these cases, more caution is required and a consultation with a medical doctor is a good idea.

Here are a few individuals who should be cautious visiting a chiropractor unless otherwise stated by their doctor:

• Those with bone density loss from osteoporosis
• People with cancer and are taking cancer treatments
• People with broken bones or some types of arthritis

But how about those who should see a chiropractor? Other than the individuals mentioned above, anyone can benefit from a spinal adjustment.

What makes chiropractic adjustments beneficial is the fact that it is a non-invasive treatment that does not require any medication. If you are not comfortable with taking sleeping pills, chiropractic care is worth trying.

Extra Tips to Improve Your Sleep

We also want to share a few quick tips to improve your sleep:

• Set a sleep schedule that works with your current work schedule and stays consistent with it. Go to bed at night and get up in the morning at the same times, including on weekends.
• Create a conducive environment for sleeping, making your bedroom dark, quiet, relaxing, and with comfortable temperature.
• Stop using any electronics 2-3 hours before bed and remove them from arm’s reach.
• Avoid consuming caffeine, alcohol, and large meals 2-3 hours before bedtime.
• Get consistent exercise.

Wrapping It Up

It’s crucial to get quality sleep each night to maintain good health. If you already exhausted all possible solutions to poor sleep, you may want to consider seeing a chiropractor for a spinal adjustment to help.

Hopefully, you learned a lot about the correlation between sleep and chiropractic care from this post! Now that you know more about how chiropractors can improve your sleep quality, consider booking an appointment with one now. Contact us to learn about our chiropractic services and set an appointment. You’ll hopefully be one step closer to better sleep after quality spinal adjustments.

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