You don’t need me to tell you that the majority of humans today are stressed. Every day we are bombarded (mentally and/or physically) whether we notice them at the moment or not. Imagine being on a roller coaster. The more stress that you are under, the more loops and twists. There would come a point where even the most exhausted person wouldn’t be able to fall asleep.
There are few things more frustrating than being exhausted but unable to truly rest. Some people struggle to fall asleep. Others wake up constantly throughout the night or get out of bed feeling just as tired as when they laid down. Many of my patients that experience these symptoms, especially in children, have very hyperactive nervous systems
The human body is designed to recover during sleep. Muscles relax, tissues repair, hormones regulate, and the nervous system shifts into a calmer state. But when the body is dealing with chronic stress (mental, traumatic, toxic, etc.), it stand no chance at being able to relax.
Research has shown that chiropractic care helps improve sleep by reducing pain, improving physical comfort, and influencing nervous system function. In one large survey study examining patients receiving chiropractic care, many patients reported improvements in sleep quality alongside reductions in musculoskeletal pain and stress (Jamison, 2005).
This relationship makes sense because pain and poor sleep often feed into each other. When people sleep poorly, the body becomes more sensitive to pain and stress. When people are in pain, sleep quality gets worse. Chiropractic interrupts this cycle by improving spinal motion, reducing joint irritation, and decreasing muscle tension throughout the body.
One common effect I hear from patients after being adjusted, especially if they have never been adjusted before: “I just want to stay here and sleep!” Clinical research explains this by showing an Adjustment’s influence the autonomic nervous system, the system responsible for regulating the body’s “fight or flight” and “rest and recover” responses (Welch & Boone, 2008). When the body remains stuck in a stressed and tense state, quality sleep becomes harder to achieve (like the roller coaster analogy). Many patients reported feeling more relaxed and physically settled after chiropractic adjustments.
At the end of the day, sleep is not just about shutting your eyes. It is about allowing the body and nervous system to fully recover. When the spine, muscles, and nervous system work together more efficiently, many people find they are finally able to get the rest they have been missing.
• Jamison, J. R. (2005). Chiropractic patients in Australia: A descriptive study of health, lifestyle, and treatment outcomes. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 28(6), 423–432.
• Welch, A., & Boone, R. (2008). Sympathetic and parasympathetic responses to specific diversified adjustments to chiropractic vertebral subluxations of the cervical and thoracic spine. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine, 7(3), 86–93.