What happens when we don’t sleep well

Sleep is a cornerstone wellbeing. There is a reason we spend up to one-third of our lives doing an activity that literally involves doing nothing. But as soon as sleep quality suffers, we feel it. The ripple effect has ramifications in happiness, productivity, digestion, pain and a number of other factors. Take weight for example: many studies have discerned a link between sleep inhibition and weight gain. As an office of chiropractic, this concerns us because obesity is one of the key factors that accelerates spinal degeneration. 

The connection between sleep and weight

Say you tossed and turned all night, catching an hour of sleep here and a half hour there. You didn’t get sufficient sleep and you feel it, as you reach for your second cup of coffee of the morning. This interruptive sleep pattern is damaging; sleeping in full cycles is important for body weight regulation. As you snooze away, your body is hard at work regulating hormone cycles, including that of cortisol, the stress hormone. When sleep is inhibited, the body produces an excess of cortisol. A common side effect of this upheaval in hormone regulation is that your body stores more abdominal fat. Furthermore, our homeostasis is interrupted, and we feel hungrier and more likely to binge eat bad foods when we are sleep deprived. 

Helping you sleep better to regulate weight in Milpitas

At our office in Milpitas, sleep and weight control are two of the factors we want to help you control. Our natural modalities help you feel more comfortable and boost circulation to the brain, helping you fall and stay asleep. And while simply sleeping better is not enough by itself to prevent weight gain, it does set a stage. It is part of a triad of factors (sleep, diet, exercise), that help you achieve your target weight. If pain is keeping you from getting the rest you deserve, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today.