Can chiropractic help with sleep?
Many people may not realize that chiropractic can help with sleep issues! There are several factors that can contribute to poor sleep quality, many of which can be addressed with chiropractic care. Chiropractic care restores proper balance in the body, which is essential for getting good quality sleep!
Racing thoughts: are you stuck in fight or flight?
Our autonomic nervous system controls all of the bodily functions that we don't have to think about, and it has two main branches. The sympathetic branch controls our "fight or flight" response, which helps us respond when we are faced with a threat. The parasympathetic branch controls our "rest and digest" response, which helps us relax, heal, digest food, and sleep.
Sometimes, we can get stuck in a fight or flight response. Maybe we are feeling anxious about something coming up, like a final exam at school, or maybe we are still feeling anxious long after the threat has passed. In either situation, the fight or flight response is working overtime. In some people, this can lead to racing thoughts at night and difficulty sleeping.
Chiropractic care balances the nervous system, which creates harmony between the "fight or flight" and "rest and digest" responses. This allows the body to be able to switch between the two as needed, without getting stuck on one side! Balancing the nervous system can help someone who is stuck in a "fight or flight" response move into "rest and digest" so that they can get good quality sleep.
Muscle tension: Is it keeping you awake?
Sometimes our muscles hang on to tension from our day. Maybe your shoulders start rising closer to your ears, maybe you hold tension in your jaw, or maybe that tension gets stored somewhere else in the body. When we try to go to sleep, muscle tension can leave us uncomfortable.
Muscle tension can be both the cause and the result of a misalignment in the spine. When muscles are asymmetrically contracting over a long period of time, due to psychological stress or repetitive postures, the spine may compensate, producing a misalignment. On the other hand, a misalignment in the spine can cause an interference in the nervous system that results in a nerve telling a muscle that it must stay contracted.
In either situation, chiropractic care can break the cycle by restoring symmetry to muscle tone and removing interference from the nervous system. If you are stuck awake at night, it might be time to schedule an appointment with your chiropractor!