The Importance of Sleep

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Did you know that chiropractic care may help you sleep better? A 2012 United States survey showed that over 40% of people reported that chiropractic care improved their sleep.

When it comes to what is the ideal sleep situation – it is a case of not too much and not too little.

Why is sleep so important?

Sleep is vital for human health as it allows the body time to heal and recharge. A lack of sleep or broken sleep has been linked to many health problems including an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cancer, mood disorders, anxiety, and depression.

Sleep and Immune Function

A lack of sleep creates a stress response in the body and increases the levels of cortisol in our body, which is a stress hormone that is important for immune system regulation.

Video Transcript

Did you know that chiropractic care may help you sleep better? According to a large survey done in 2012 in the United States over 40% of people reported that chiropractic care improved their sleep1.

The importance of sleep has been gaining a lot more attention and research recently. In the industrialized world, there has been a push towards increased productivity, the “hustle and grind” culture, the need for instant results, lots of information and processes, and the rise of the technological revolution. All of this has led to late night emails, scrolling social media in bed, and late-night streaming tv shows. Combine this with rising stress levels and we are seeing a decrease in sleep time and sleep quality2,3.

When it comes to what is the ideal sleep situation – it is a case of not too much and not too little. The amount of sleep we should be getting depends on our age. It is recommended that toddlers get eleven to fourteen hours, preschool-aged kids should get ten to thirteen hours, school-aged children need nine to twelve hours, teenagers need eight to ten hours, and 18 to 60-year-olds should ideally have seven – 9 hours, which is also what is recommended for those over 60 4-6.

But have you ever thought about Why sleep is so important? Recent research has shown us that Sleep can be thought of a bit like a dishwasher for the brain. We know from this new research that during deep sleep the fluid that bathes and nourishes our brain and spinal cord is increased, which allows for a cleaning process to occur, where toxic by-products and debris are washed away7-9. The brain is very active during the day so many processes cannot be completed until we rest and sleep at night. The information gathered during the day is then consolidated, which means our short-term memories are converted to long-term memories and new nerve cells are created7-13. This means that good quality and enough sleep is also absolutely essential for learning new information, at least if you want to remember this information long term.

We also know that sleep is vital for human health as it allows the body time to heal and recharge for the demands of the upcoming day. A lack of sleep or broken sleep has been linked to many health problems including an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cancer, mood disorders, anxiety, and depression14-20.

Sleep is also particularly important for immune function and sleep loss, or disturbed sleep has been linked to decreased immune function and an increase in cells that cause inflammation in the body21-23. This is thought to be because a lack of sleep creates a stress response in the body and increases the levels of cortisol in our body, which is a stress hormone that is important for immune system regulation24,25. In the short term, this is fine, but if you are chronically deprived of good quality sleep, then this is not a good thing, leading to increased inflammation levels in the body that are known to be associated with those chronic health disorders mentioned earlier.

So do make sure you are getting a good night’s sleep as this can be very beneficial for your overall health and wellbeing! And if you are not able to sleep to try seeing your family chiropractor since so many people who see chiropractors report that it helps them sleep better.

References
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  2. Kronholm, E., Partonen, T., Laatikainen, T., Peltonen, M., Härmä, M., Hublin, C., … & Sutela, H. (2008). Trends in self‐reported sleep duration and insomnia‐related symptoms in Finland from 1972 to 2005: a comparative review and re‐analysis of Finnish population samples. Journal of sleep research, 17(1), 54-62.
  3. National Sleep Foundation. Washington, DC: National Sleep Foundation; 2005. Sleep in America Poll 2005: summary of findings.
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  5. Consensus Conference Panel, Watson, N. F., Badr, M. S., Belenky, G., Bliwise, D. L., Buxton, O. M., Buysse, D., Dinges, D.F., Gangwisch, J., Grandner, M.A., Kushida, C., Malhotra, R.K., Martin, J.L., Patel, S.R., Quan, S.F., & Tasali, E. (2015). Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: a joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 11(6), 591-592.
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  13. Guzman‐Marin, R., Suntsova, N., Methippara, M., Greiffenstein, R., Szymusiak, R., & McGinty, D. (2005). Sleep deprivation suppresses neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus of rats. European Journal of Neuroscience, 22(8), 2111-2116.
  14. Ayas, N. T., White, D. P., Manson, J. E., Stampfer, M. J., Speizer, F. E., Malhotra, A., & Hu, F. B. (2003). A prospective study of sleep duration and coronary heart disease in women. Archives of internal medicine, 163(2), 205-209.
  15. Buxton, O. M., Pavlova, M., Reid, E. W., Wang, W., Simonson, D. C., & Adler, G. K. (2010). Sleep restriction for 1 week reduces insulin sensitivity in healthy men. Diabetes, 59(9), 2126-2133.
  16. Chattu, V. K., Manzar, M. D., Kumary, S., Burman, D., Spence, D. W., & Pandi-Perumal, S. R. (2019, March). The global problem of insufficient sleep and its serious public health implications. In Healthcare (Vol. 7, No. 1, p. 1). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.
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  18. Jike, M., Itani, O., Watanabe, N., Buysse, D. J., & Kaneita, Y. (2018). Long sleep duration and health outcomes: a systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression. Sleep medicine reviews, 39, 25-36.
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  21. Bryant, P. A., Trinder, J., & Curtis, N. (2004). Sick and tired: does sleep have a vital role in the immune system?. Nature Reviews Immunology, 4(6), 457-467.
  22. Haspel, J. A., Anafi, R., Brown, M. K., Cermakian, N., Depner, C., Desplats, P., Gelman, A. E., Haack, M., Jelic, S., Kim, B. S., Laposky, A. D., Lee, Y. C., Mongodin, E., Prather, A. A., Prendergast, B. J., Reardon, C., Shaw, A. C., Sengupta, S., Szentirmai, É., Thakkar, M., … Solt, L. A. (2020). Perfect timing: circadian rhythms, sleep, and immunity – an NIH workshop summary. JCI insight, 5(1), e131487. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.131487
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  24. Massar, S. A., Liu, J. C., Mohammad, N. B., & Chee, M. W. (2017). Poor habitual sleep efficiency is associated with increased cardiovascular and cortisol stress reactivity in men. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 81, 151-156.
  25. Leproult, R., Copinschi, G., Buxton, O., & Van Cauter, E. (1997). Sleep loss results in an elevation of cortisol levels the next evening. Sleep, 20(10), 865-870.

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