What’s the best part of a long, stressful work day? Sleep!
Why best? Well, you may well like to sleep. Your body absolutely
requires sleep. Statistics say that Americans don’t sleep enough. On average, we sleep
about 6.8 hours a night.
Seven to 9 hours a night are recommended. (1)
OrthoIllinois Chiropractic empathizes with our McHenry patients who come into
the office feeling more exhausted some days than others! So let’s look at sleep a little
closer from the perspective of how it affects what we chiropractors, we
back pain specialists, strive to aid in relief:
back pain,
neck pain,
leg pain and
arm pain. And OrthoIllinois Chiropractic offers
Cox Technic in its McHenry chiropractic practice for its success and safety. But now, back to sleep...
Needs
OrthoIllinois Chiropractic
yields to the medical literature for the best observations about sleep. Studies
report that sleep is beneficial to health and cognitive function. It keeps our brains functioning and our bodies
healthy! Sleep allows our bodies to regenerate and recover from the stresses of
the day. As a matter of fact, researchers even equate some of the metabolic
changes due to a lack of sleep – like those linked to cardiovascular disease
and diabetes – to changes related to stress. (2,3) Today 59% of us sleep our 7-9 hours
whereas in 1942 84% of us did! (1) McHenry folks need more sleep!
Poor sleep quality affects neck pain relief adversely. Neck
pain patients are less likely to improve when they don’t sleep well. (4) So
talk with your chiropractor at OrthoIllinois Chiropractic about your sleep quality.
Risks
Strong evidence links especially high demands at work
(active jobs) with severe sleep disturbances. (5, 6) Sleep disturbances may intensify
the link between high strain and troublesome neck pain, shoulder pain, and arm
pain. (6) If your job is really demanding, be sure to schedule time with your
McHenry chiropractor to keep neck pain at bay.
Sleep disturbed firefighters are more prone to developing
chronic lower back pain. (7) So those McHenry workers whose
schedules keep them from sleeping regularly will want to pay attention to their
bodies and their sleep patterns to prevent back pain. Visit OrthoIllinois Chiropractic for
back pain care and prevention tips.
Wants
Are you sleepless in
McHenry? Probably! 43% of us say we’d feel better if we got more sleep.
(1) How about you?
Interestingly, the older you are, the more you sleep. The
fewer kids you have, the more you sleep. The older your kids are (over 18), the
more you sleep. The more kids you have under 18, the less you sleep. (1) Make
sense? For most of us in McHenry, that sounds about right!
Contact your McHenry chiropractor at
OrthoIllinois Chiropractic to manage any neck pain, shoulder or arm pain you may have.
Consider your sleep habits. Maybe adding a few zzz’s to your night will benefit
your prevention and relief of neck pain and back pain.