When I was a kid, my family had a very rigid bedtime policy. When my Mom or Dad said it was time for bed, IT WAS TIME FOR BED! And my brother and sister and I HATED it! Maybe you’re the same. It never seemed like I was tired at bedtime! And there were always lots of other things that I would rather do besides going to sleep.
However, whenever we think about how amazing our bodies are, we have to consider the absolutely fascinating things that occur while we sleep. That’s right! While you’re lying there, sound asleep, seemingly doing NOTHING, the most AMAZING things happen! We not only need sleep to live and to function but it’s also critical to our overall sense of happiness and wellbeing. In fact, it’s been said that you would sooner die of lack of sleep than of lack of food or water and it wouldn’t be pretty. Forget about that though, the mere lack of sleep puts you at risk for multiple health challenges including increased risk for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer as well as weakening the immune system making you more susceptible to infections of all kinds.
All of this is due to the fact that when you sleep your body does a multitude of AMAZING things! Your breathing slows and your blood pressure drops which rests you heart and circulatory system. Your muscles relax but the blood supply to them increases which allows for restoration of your musculo-skeletal system. Tissues grow and repair and energy is restored to your entire body and this is just to name a few things.
In addition, it is a critical time for your body to work on body chemistry. Certain hormones, for example growth hormone, are released when we sleep that are essential for growth and development. The levels of other hormones, such as cortisol, decrease at bed time and then slowly increase throughout the night to promote alertness in morning. The levels of other hormones, such as ghrelin and leptin that play a role in our feelings of hunger and fullness, are also regulated during sleep. So when we don’t get enough sleep, we may feel the need to eat more, which can lead to weight gain.
Sleep also helps us thrive by contributing to a healthy immune system. Without sufficient sleep, your body makes fewer cytokines, a type of protein that targets infection and inflammation, effectively creating an immune response. Cytokines are both produced and released during sleep, causing a double whammy if you skimp on shut-eye.
We spend one-third of our lives sleeping, or we should, but while you’re lying there seemingly doing nothing, you can see you are really very busy indeed! Those critical hours have a direct effect on every system of your body and consequently on how full, energetic, and successful the other two-thirds of your life can and will be.
Of course all of this, and every body function, is under the control of your nerve system. That is why it is so important to insure that your spine is not distorting the function of this critical system via vertebral subluxation. You do that by having your spine checked regularly by your family chiropractor. And listen… when your parents tell you it’s time for bed… GET MOVING, knowing that the time you spend in bed helps you be your most AMAZING self! Sweet dreams!
—By Judy Nutz Campanale, DC, ACP, FCSC (hon)
