Good Sleep is Critical

Difficulty Sleeping?

This problem affects everyone at some point.  Transient in ability to sleep is OK.  4 or 5 nights per week and going on for months or years is terribly bad for your health.

Your body heals while sleeping.  Your brain cements memories while sleeping and solves problems for you.  Ever had the “eureka!” moment when you wake up for a problem you’ve been trying to solve awake for weeks?

Sleep is a regenerative process.  There’s a balance in your nervous system function between the growth and repair dominant parasympathetic system and the get up and go, fight or flight, sympathetic functions.  Sleep depends on the parasympathetic system as you might imagine.

The parasympathetic system nerves emanate from the upper neck and the tailbone.  It is common for people with inability to sleep to have irritation of the nerves leaving right at the top of the neck.  This is often accompanied by visual problems, headaches, balance problems and dizziness.  Not always, but those nerves for those areas leave there too.

The first step in getting good sleep is clearing the nervous system of interference or irritation.  Make sure that the skull is aligned correctly with the vertebra below it.  I can show you thousands of x-rays of problems in this area.  It is extremely common.  Get adjusted regularly. 

Now, there are other causes of emotional stress, financial stress too, that can keep you up at night.  This doesn’t immediately exclude subluxation of the top vertebra or occiput (bottom of your skull) on the neck.  In fact, if you have emotional stress you’re going to be able to manage it and dissipate that stress much better if your nervous system is working well versus irritating that upper cervical nerve while you’re stressing about your mortgage.

There are nutritional tools that can be used for a time of crisis as well. Magnesium relaxes muscles and calms the brain. You know people take SSRIs like Wellbutrin, Prozac, Lexapro, Paxil… etd..  (much to their own peril) to increase the influence of serotonin.  But, you can take amino acids, the precursors to serotonin so your body can make it easier.  This is completely safe, unlike SSRIs.  5HTP is a common supplement.

If you’re having difficulty sleeping due to pain, first solve the cause of that, by getting adjusted.  If there really isn’t any relief, as oppose to “taking two aspirin and call me in the moring”,  the cannabinoid system mitigates pain signals and normalizes it, among its many other functions.  You can use tinctures of hemp that will help.  These are not THC.  So, you’re not going to get high.  They do have traces of THC, so commercial truck drivers with CDLs, be aware of this.  The maximum hemp derived THC traces in tinctures in Minnesota is 0.3%.  People using THC use typically 5% and some are near 20% THC.  So, about 15 – 50 times the THC level of hemp derived.   Also, it’s recently been shown that THC use makes it harder to get pregnant.  The levels of which are unknown.  So, this recommendation isn’t for everyone. 

Some might ask why a recommendation that isn’t 100% good for you?  Well, sleep deprivation is one of the most damaging to your health.  And, having seen improved sleep, despite the other concerns on CBD, really does improve quality of life while the life stage may not be ideal…. And, I’m a realist.  Would you care to guess how many people do the exercises I give them?   Or, how many attend a workshop to learn how to eat?   It’s a small percentage of the population. Even within this office.  So, as a realist, I’ offer these other tools that may help somebody at a certain stage of their life.  Everybody can’t get everything just right at every stage of their lives.  I’m bringing you tools and ideas

Other tools you’ve already heard.  Don’t keep your media devices in the bedroom.  No TV.  Keep it dark and quiet.  Ideally, not even a clock, or at least one that isn’t so bright it keeps you up.  I have one, it’s way across the room and I have to sit up to see it.  We don’t use an alarm except when taking a 5 am flight or something.  Day to day alarm use is sleep disruptive. I know different stages of life may make getting away from an alarm challenging.  But I know people who are retired and stay up til 4am.  Now, if you can then sleep until noon, perfect.  But, that’s not the case for most. These people walk around chronically sleep deprived.  So, if you’re at a stage where you can just go to bed earlier, just do it.  You can record the football game and see it tomorrow.

Exercise of some sort regularly helps greatly.  Not before bed however.  Even walking will help.  Don’t feel bad because you’re not going to a gym. 

Mattresses – This depends on body type and age.  Younger and fit should be on firm, spring traditional mattresses.   Significantly overweight will benefit from a pillow top or foam topped.  Elderly may sleep better on the foam or even the air mattress types. 

I don’t recommend people younger than 60 and even most of them, to use the air mattress type.  It increases kyphosis or that middle back hump.  Older folks like 70 and older, that spine isn’t going to give much anyway, and what you need is sleep somehow.  Many I find are sleeping in the Lazy Boy. 

The beds that flex aren’t ideal either.  Since the flex points are fixed, they don’t fit every spine correctly. I learned this one the hard way.  I like to read in bed and thought better to have a flat thoracic section rather than pile up pillows and hold my neck forward, so I got one of these.  Unfortunately, I’d slide down and find my middle back to be in the ‘hole” and my gosh, that was very bad.  Maybe you could make it work if you were 6 foot 2 inches, but it definitely wasn’t built for my height. 

So, the answer for most is a firm mattress with pillow top.  Very old or very large, air or foam. 

Where to get them?  I’ve bought them from the Mattress Factory and the stores in strip malls or even Dayton's back in the day.  I’ve found good ones everywhere.  The cost varies substantially.  I’d vote the Mattress Factory at this point. Here's a link. Maplewood, Minnesota Mattress Factory and Store| Original Mattress Factory Don't bother spending money on a mattress until your spine works though.

Sleep on back is the best but I know everyone can't or doesn't do this. If you don't, use a body pillow or something to help you in different position. But, do not use more than one pillow under your head. Cervical support pillows are helpful in maintaining the correct curve in your neck. We use these and have them in our office for you.

Alcohol, makes you fall asleep but this isn’t normal regenerative sleep.  So, it’s not helpful.

Caffeine – I can’t use caffeine hardly at all.  If I use it after 2 or 3pm.  I’m up until 4am.  I don’t imagine everyone else it’s good for. In general, caffeine pushes you into fight or flight.

Schedule – same time daily if you can.  I can’t always.  Sometimes I get home from rock and roll shows at 2 am.  I go to bed Sunday then at 8pm and try to catch up by putting in 10 or 11 hours of sleep.  If you do this repeatedly, you can’t catch up.  It’s not good.  But, I'm like everyone else, life happens. Adapt and adjust.

All these are helpful ideas that you may choose.  I don’t have an endorsement for any of these other than going to bed early at the same time every day, exercise, keep electronics out and use a good mattress.

If you’re having trouble, the most important thing is start by getting adjusted regularly. If you are healthy and your spine works, you can get by with not the ideal mattress or sleep time. Start by getting adjusted.

Dr. Barrett

Vibrant Life Center

651-777-3611