Have you ever had a night when you couldn’t sleep? You spent hours tossing and turning, trying to relax and get some health restoring sleep only to finally drift off an hour or two before the alarm went off and wake up feeling like the walking dead?

Why is it that you feel so terrible the next day? Well, one of the primary functions of sleep is for the body to heal muscle tissue, regenerate organs, restock hormones and enzymes and rest the mind.  This takes place in cycles of sleep, each designed to restore certain parts of the body. When we miss even a single night of sleep the affects on the body are acute and make for a long day.

As a doctor who works specifically with the muscles, joints and associated connective tissues one of the first questions I ask new patients is how well do you typically sleep at night? The reason I ask this question is that after an adjustment the muscles, tendons and organs at the end of the nerves being pinched increase the amount they heal. Sleep, being the primary restorative time, is when the majority of this healing occurs. If a person is not sleeping well then the amount of healing will be less and more treatments will be needed in order to resolve the problem.

This is the single most important reason behind getting enough sleep. If you don’t your body is not regenerating as much as it should be and your health will suffer. The cumulative effects over time can be far ranging and destructive and simply making getting good sleep a priority can fix this. In general adults need 8 full hours of sleep per night, kids need 10-12 hours of sleep per night.

There are also some things you can do to improve your sleep if you struggle falling asleep or staying asleep.  Cutting off caffeine by around 10am, not looking at phones, computers or TV screens 1 hour before bed and having a specific wind down routine each night can make a big difference in sleep quality.  If you are still having problems sleeping and need further help don’t hesitate and call my office today. We can help identify why you are having problems sleeping and help make a plan to help you sleep better and get the regenerative sleep you need.

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