Sleep is imperative to heart health. While it may feel like your body is doing nothing as you catch your Z’s, quality sleep essential for your body to repair itself and function at its optimal capacity.
If you are missing the sleep your body needs, you may begin to experience increased stress, weight gain, irritability, and even a diminished immune system.
Why is sleeping less so detrimental to heart health?
Adults who lack 7 hours of sleep each night are at greater risk for heart health complications like heart disease, stroke, and heart attacks. This has been attributed to conditions like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity.
Here’s why:
- While you sleep, your blood pressure goes down. If you are unable to sleep, your blood pressure stays higher for a longer amount of time. High blood pressure is a leading risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
- Diabetes causes a build up of sugar in your blood. Studies have linked proper sleep to an improvement in blood sugar control.
- Sleep deprivation has been linked to obesity as lack of sleep can lead to weight gain and may impact the part of the brain that controls hunger.6
If you are unable to sleep, chances are you don’t know why. A variety of underlying conditions can impact your sleep. The good news is, we’re here to help get to the root cause.
There are many tools integrative medicine can use to unlock the great night of sleep you’ve been needing. Some of our favorites are:
- Acupuncture: Acupuncture helps resolve root issues that cause sleeplessness. Inserting fine needles into the skin at specific points can help regulate your body’s physiology, including the neurotransmitters that may be keeping you awake.
- Functional Medicine: Functional Medicine and Clinical Nutrition can help get the root cause of your sleeping troubles, whether that means thyroid disorders, adrenal fatigue, hormonal imbalance, blood sugar issues, cortisol imbalance or another cause. We’ll perform thorough assessments and evaluations to assess your individual biochemistry and determine what recommendations would be most helpful in your case.
- Chiropractic care: Our skilled chiropractors know how to address chronic or acute physical pain that could be the cause of sleep loss. Through this safe, noninvasive, first line of defense against pain, you may be able to experience restored joint mobility and back and neck pain relief.
If you are experiencing trouble sleeping, we’re here to help! Talk to us about your symptoms, and we can develop a holistic, whole body strategy for targeting them. Our treatment options are safe, non-habit forming and free from the common side effects of over-the-counter sleep aids. To book an appointment at any of our convenient Chicagoland locations, click here or give as a call at 773-598-4387.
